Mentorship in dentistry plays a huge role in shaping the profession. The guidance, direction, and experience passed down from a senior mentor to a young mentee can truly shape the career of a new dentist. I’d like to share the impact one of my good friends and mentors, Steve Ratcliff, has had on me and my closest colleagues.

The Invitation

For years I had seen Steve on Spear Study Club modules and admired his ability to clearly and succinctly discuss complex topics in dentistry. In 2019, I attended the Academy of General Dentistry annual meeting and was awarded my Fellowship with the Academy of General Dentistry. Steve was the keynote speaker for the Fellowship and Mastership awards ceremony. To end his speech, Steve highlighted how the dentists in the room receiving their awards are the future of dentistry, and encouraged anyone interested in teaching to directly reach out to him.

I contacted Steve shortly after the AGD meeting ended, and a week later had a phone call with him. He was interested in starting a study group to help mentor young dentists looking to pursue teaching. Myself and two other dentists had reached out to him after the AGD meeting, and Steve envisioned our small group as a learning laboratory where we would learn more about dentistry, lecturing, and ourselves.

The Growth

Our first meetings took place in 2019 on Zoom (pre-pandemic, before me or most of America knew what Zoom was). Dr. Billy Belknap (a friend and colleague I practiced with in the Army), Dr. Ryan Gens, and myself met with Steve once a month. Our initial meetings were clinically focused, and involved documenting cases we either found unique or challenging. We would review these case presentations together, and over the course of a few months developed these cases in to educational lectures that we presented to each other. After our first few sessions, Steve dubbed our group the “Grasshoppers.” A fitting name for a group of novices learning from a master.

Not all of our work was clinical. After about a year meeting together, we started to dive more in to the soft skills of facilitation, co-discovery, and philosophies of dentistry. Many of these conversations helped Billy, Ryan and I take a deeper look at our “Why” and what our purpose was on this journey of dentistry and life.

After a few years, life started to get busy for all of us. Billy and I moved to new states, and Ryan, Billy and I all started families. Our Zoom sessions eventually dwindled, however we always kept in touch, keeping a group text message thread alive to ask Steve for guidance and mentorship with questions concering both dentistry and life. Any time I visited campus I also made sure to see Steve, catch up with him, and pick his brain. I grew to treasure those dinners with Steve whenever I was in Scottsdale.

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The Guru

All four of us finally met in person at Spear Summit 2025. During our time at Summit, Steve invited us to visit his home in Idaho for our first annual Grasshopper retreat. During a long weekend in July, Steve, Billy, Ryan and I had deep conversations about dentistry, our journeys in the profession, and our lives outside the operatory.

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We had an eventful weekend of hiking, fly fishing, and exploring Idaho and Wyoming. One of the most memorable moments happened when the 4 of us were exploring downtown Jackson Hole and had our picture taken in under the Elk Antler Arches. The gentleman who took our picture asked us “how do you all know each other.”

“He’s our mentor” Billy, Ryan, and I said as we all pointed to Steve

“I’m from India, and in India a mentor is called a ‘guru.’ The guru has high status of respect. It’s a greater title than being a parent.”

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“The Guru.” I cannot think of a more fitting title for Steve.

As Steve transitions in to his advisory role with Spear, I cannot thank him enough for all he has done for myself and my fellow Grasshoppers. Steve, you have had a profound effect on countless people in the dental profession. Words cannot describe how much you have done for dentistry. Cheers to the future, and thanks Steve!