Featured Mentors

Anne Budenberg

My background as a dentist for over 30 years is in mixed private / NHS dental practice as an associate, practice owner, as an expense sharing partner for 24 years, providing general dentistry, orthodontics, IV sedation and TMD management, until 2017. To date my career has been rewarding and fulfilling combining practice, with hospital and educational & training positions. The practice became a training practice in 1994, just after Foundation Training became mandatory in 1993. We developed the practice and grew professionally as Dental Foundation Training evolved. I was an Educational Supervisor for 4 years before taking on the role of Training Programme Director in 2004.

I converted to private practice in 2006 when the UDA contract was introduced, so understand both the challenges and rewards of Practice life.  I worked with Educational Services, Medical Protection Society (MPS), for 10 years until 2021, developing their e-learning platform, creating risk management material in most formats, including webinars, videos, and developing Record Keeping, and Resilience & Burnout workshops. I still work as a Specialty Dentist, TMD Clinic, Manchester Dental Hospital, and as Training Programme Director role for NHSE NW.

I spent 10 years (until 2019) working freelance with {my}dentist running their 2-day Mentoring Programme for overseas dentists (now PLVE), which is ongoing with London HEE, for PLVE mentors, so I understand the difficult transition for overseas dentists coming to work in the UK.

I have mentored new graduates for many years, and now dentists facing professional challenges, those feeling stuck in their career, and dentists in difficulty, with GDC conditions. I completed a PGCert in Leadership, Coaching and Mentoring, and also trained in Health Coaching, combining this with treating patients suffering with TMDs and chronic pain. I am accredited as a Myers-Briggs Practitioner. This assesses personality preferences; explaining patterns in how different people take in information and make decisions. The Myers Briggs profiling is a useful tool to raise your self-awareness, and understand differences within your dental team, which can be a source of misunderstanding, frustration and conflict.

Dentistry is rich and varied, and offers a niche for everyone to work to their strengths. There are often hard decisions to make, with personal circumstances often dictating the best decisions at the time. From where you stand it can often be hard to see your choices. But as David Clutterbuck said, “everyone needs a mentor”. Mentoring can help you see the bigger picture, bringing perspective to those ‘sliding doors’ moments throughout your career, where there is uncertainty about the best way forward.

I truly believe this sentiment, whether mentoring is formal, informal, or a light -touch approach, this really helps at critical points in your professional / personal life, as the two are difficult to separate. This sits strongly with my passion for sport, which mirrors much of professional life - its triumphs and tribulations. Believing anything is possible with a vision, support, focus and effort, means that mentoring and coaching can take you to places you felt were never possible alone.

My mentoring strengths lie in career mentor/coaching for all ages, including DCPs, PDP development, diversifying your career, developing your practice and your team, facing professional challenges, including the GDC, and supporting overseas dentists in the UK.

I can offer flexible mentoring at times to suit your work schedule, within the normal working day, or evenings. Mostly online, but face- to- face is also possible, including observed working, and work-based assessments.

With an understanding of the challenges of running a practice, plus balancing professional and personal life, as a mentor/coach I can offer support for you to develop both personally and professionally.

Anne Budenberg BDS, DGDP(UK), PGCTLCP, C. Practice Appraisal, DipMedEd,  MDTFEd, PGC Leadership Coaching Mentoring, FCGDent

Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-budenberg-a4719444

Podcasts:
Let’s Chat Dental (2023)
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/lets-chat-dental/id1614282695
Let’s Chat Health (2022)
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/lets-chat-health/id1573475331