ALUMNI
Alumni Profile: Shortt Family's 4th DDS Generation Adding the next generation of dentists to a family dental practice is an interesting mix. It’s rewarding and enlightening, with a few challenges thrown in, for both the long-established parents and their newly arrived children. That’s the consensus of the William and Therese Shortt family of South Lyon, Michigan, who say their transition has been fun and successful. Like the many dentists whose children follow their career path, the Shortts had talked for years about the possibility of their son Christian joining the practice. Then the day arrived when Christian graduated from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in 2022. And so did his wife Juhi. It was a package deal. Bill and Therese earned their DDS degrees from U-M in 1987 and started a practice in South Lyon. For many years, Bill also commuted two days a week (by plane, he’s a pilot) to his hometown of West Branch, 28 ALUMNI M Dentistry | Fall 2023
Michigan, to practice part-time with his father Lee, a 1944 U-M dental school grad. Lee had also followed his father, Chauncey, a University of Chicago dental graduate who opened the practice in West Branch in 1908. So Bill says he was well-versed in the pluses and minuses of following the previous generation in the same dental practice. “It is hard to work for your family,” Bill said. “When my father went through dental school, there were no alternative methods. It was: this is how you do it. And that’s not how I did it. I learned a ton from him, but we butted heads a lot, too. So I think I understand that I needed to give Christian and Juhi space. I don’t think I’ve ever initiated a ‘this is how you should do this’ conversation. If they ask me something, I would say, ‘Well, here is what I see. You have to decide how it works in your hands.’ What works in my hands does not work in Therese’s hands, and what works in her hands does not work in my hands.”
Christian said he and his parents had discussed that maybe an option was starting his career elsewhere, then joining the family practice after a few years. But finishing dental school during the COVID-19 pandemic added a new element that complicated the practice of dentistry, particularly for beginning dentists. “As an associate you need a mentor,” Christian said. “In the first couple of months, as prepared as we were, I don’t think anyone coming out of dental school is completely ready to go. There were times when I was looking at an x-ray that I needed a second and third opinion. Or I’d be doing an endo tooth and I’d get advice from one of the two. Being here made a nightand-day difference in our production, in our success rate of procedures. Coming here was for sure the right choice.” Christian and Juhi met in the first weeks of dental school and were married between their third and fourth years. (Similarly, Bill and Therese met in their first year and were
