HINMAN DENTAL MEETING, 2005
Linda Miles, Dr. Howard Grant, Dr. T. Allen James, Mrs. Jeannette
James, and Don Miles
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
In mid March, the 93rd annual Thomas P. Hinman Dental Meeting was held in Atlanta with over 22,000 dentists and staff in attendance. Known as the most prestigious dental meeting in North America, the Hinman attracts the top dentists wishing to stay on the cutting edge of clinical and management excellence.
Linda Miles, founder of Linda Miles and Associates of Virginia Beach, who has been a Featured Clinician at Hinman six times in the past twenty years, was honored at the Opening Session of Hinman with the Distinguished Service Award for her 43 years in dentistry and her 27 years as one of dentistry's leading speakers and consultants on practice management and staff development. In the 93 years of Hinman, this honor has only been presented 23 times. Miles was the first non-dentist clinician and the first female speaker to be honored with this distinction.
Ms. Miles started her career in dentistry at the age of 17 in Bluefield, WV. Working her way from receptionist and dental assistant, she became interested in the management side of dentistry in the mid 70's. In 1980, her AF career husband was stationed at Oceana and they, along with a senior in high school and an 8th grader, moved to Virginia Beach. As a pioneer in dental management consulting Miles spent the next twenty-five busy years lecturing and consulting in all fifty states and on four continents. In October 2004, Linda was one of three featured keynote speakers for the Masters of Dentistry Extravaganza in Sydney, Australia, her fifth tour down under. In May 2005, Linda shared the platform with other dental speakers and celebrities such as Dr. Phil; humorist, Jeanne Robertson; and actor Sean Astin. (Discus Dental's co-founder is Dr. Bill Dorfman, of Extreme Makeover fame). She is the author of three books and serves on numerous committees and advisory boards for dentistry.
Part of Linda's acceptance speech in Atlanta was her definition of mentoring. “A true mentor is one who steps out of the way and allows others to lead. Knowing that eventually you will be asked to step in front again at some point”. She also believes that, “Your attitude about life determines your energy level”. If that's true, Linda will be flying high for another two decades. She loves to quote her friend, Charlie Tremendous Jones, a prominent speaker from the National Speakers Association of which she has been a member of since 1982. “If you love what you do, you'll never work another day in your life”. Linda thanked her family in the audience (husband Don, grown children LaDona and David, son-in-law Bobby Crutsinger, and her sister Pat Dawson from Richmond). Also thanked for their support was her co-worker of 21 years, Mrs. Lee Tarvin of Virginia Beach, her many friends, clients, seminar attendees and the Hinman committee.