Dentaltown November 2022 - 38

Office Visit
Dr. LeRoy Horton's favorite case
[Editor's note: Dr. Horton wrote about this case in detail in " Front Line Work, " a CE course that
was published in the January 2021 issue of Dentaltown. To read more about the case, with
the chance to take the quiz and earn 1.5 CE credits, go to dentaltown.com/horton-ce.]
This remains one of my favorite cases because it really displays the success
one can have with anterior implant cases. I was using a modified " dual zone
therapy " technique (developed by Drs. D.P. Tarnow and S.J. Chu), which I have found
to have great utility in an office where making immediate provisionals does not fit
the workflow.
Before
After
PhD is a great thing if you just want to be
a scientist-you'll have a lot more leverage
with that degree to write grants, research
funding and the like. I still love being a
clinician, so I'm not sure I want to dedicate
another couple of years to getting a PhD if
I don't really need it.
I'd like to find a balance between
teaching part time and being a clinician
part time. There's money to be had in the
lecture circuit-I'm already doing some,
including recent ones at past International
Congress of Oral Implantologists conventions
and this year's National Dental Association
meeting in Arizona.
I also have a decent track record providing
private CE courses, so I may explore
options at non-dental school institutions
like the Misch Implant Institute or Implant
Pathways. Maybe two days a week teaching
and two days a week clinical practice. I
am exploring my options, and given the
relationships I have at a few dental schools,
I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up in
that arena.
Outside of practice, you're
also active in combat sports.
I was always a competitive kid-testing
some change into it, and I'm scheduled to
graduate in May 2024.
Even though it doesn't sound like it, I'm
actually spending a lot more time with the
family now than I was before! This change
has improved my emotional and spiritual
wellbeing, and was one of the best decisions
I could have made.
How is it going financially
if you're working only
one day a week?
I was in an advantageous situation: I had
savings from the sale of the offices, and was
always in high demand because I'm a high
producer. Also, I'm like Liam Neeson: I have
a special set of skills! If you provide a niche or
specialty most GPs don't, you can see fewer
patients and still make comparable if not
more money than a typical general dentist.
So, on most Saturdays, I see four or
five patients back to back, performing
implant surgeries, grafting and wisdom
tooth procedures, making more than I
would if I were a GP doing bread-and-butter
dentistry work.
What's next after you
graduate-a PhD?
That would be another 2, 2½ years of
participating in projects, and depending
on the program, there could be stipulations
about where you have to teach part time.
From talking to a lot of people, I think a
myself and my limits. My cousins and I were
doing taekwondo as young kids, and two
of my uncles were on the Greek national
boxing team, so they'd train us and have
us fight each other. When we came to the
U.S., I still pursued it, practicing at the
boxing club at Al Davies and the Boys and
Girls Club. I got into judo and jiujitsu, and
muy thai kickboxing.
As an adult, I've had a number of fights
on the amateur circuit-in cages, in rings,
in octagons, in dive bars where bikers are
there drunk and yelling. It's a thrill to me;
the most alive I've ever felt is in the ring
in the middle of combat, whether I was
winning or losing.
I still train at Portland City Boxing while
I'm in Oregon, and with a lot of fighters
back in Tacoma. I haven't competed in a

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Dentaltown November 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown November 2022