In 2011, Jim and I were living in Mississippi and were preparing to move to Glen Mills, PA, which is not that far from Philadelphia. While we were packing, I received a call from Martin Trope asking me if I was interested in coming to work for him and helping him create a continuing dental education business in Philadelphia where he lives and works. He described his teaching facility, which is attached to his private practice. His enthusiasm, as always, was contagious. This was extremely exciting for me! Jim and I met when he was an endodontic resident at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Trope was his mentor and program director as well as the chairman of the department. After Jim graduated from endodontics, we lived in Hendersonville, NC where Jim had his own endodontic practice. But he was restless and in his heart, he knew that his calling was as an educator. After a few stops along the way, we now live in Utah. Jim teaches endodontics and is the Assistant Dean for General Dentistry Education at Roseman, College of Dental Medicine, South Jordan, Utah. He is on the Next Level Endodontics faculty as well.
I knew Dr. Trope from our time together at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was the department chairman and I was the departmental manager. It was a pleasure to work for him, because he was always open to new ideas. If there was a problem and you had a solution, he was always willing to let you try it. It is a method that instills a great deal of confidence in employees and develops an atmosphere of creative thinking rather than oppression. I have worked for the other kind of employer as well, who will shut you down the minute you have an idea different from his or her own way of thinking. In my opinion, this stops forward progress. Dr. Trope exudes an energy and a presence that changes the vibration of the room the moment he walks in. Back in 2011, we began to create Dr. Trope’s vision. He named the original business TEC Teaching, which stood for Trope Endodontic Concepts. Later, we renamed it to Next Level Endodontics. Our goal is to help the practitioner in determining his or her current level of endodontic skill and knowledge and assisting in achieving his or her personal next level.
During these past five years, we have learned to keep what works and discard what doesn’t. Now, it’s time for Next Level Endodontics to move to its own “next level”. With that in mind and with a great deal of help and guidance from Dr. Ken Serota, we have created our new website and have made significant updates to the courses. We are excited to be moving forward and hope you will be as well.