Dr. Kate Quinlin — collaboration for better dental care

Relationships are key for periodontist Dr. Kate Quinlin — with her patients, her colleagues, and with her team at Cameo Dental Specialists, a fully integrated, multidisciplinary practice with five locations in and around Chicago, Illinois.

Like many doctors, Dr. Quinlin said she can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to be a dentist, although she didn’t make the decision to specialize until she was in dental school.

“I really loved surgery, but relationships with people are also very, very important to me, and periodontics nicely merges those things,” she said. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dr. Quinlin made the big decision out of high school to study at the University of Tennessee. She ultimately returned to the University of Pittsburgh for dental school, and then made her way to the Windy City for her periodontics residency at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

After graduation, Dr. Quinlin joined a boutique periodontics practice in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, led by an established doctor who quickly became a great mentor. As she continued to practice there over the next 4 years, she realized she felt very isolated. When an old friend from residency, endodontist Dr. Vladana Babcic Tal, sensed her discontent and presented her with an intriguing opportunity to join her team at Cameo, Dr. Quinlin leapt at the chance.

Founded as Cameo Endodontics in 1979 by two brothers, the practice remained exclusive to endodontics until 2016 when the managing partners at the time, Dr. Rick Munaretto and Dr. Keith Sommers, embraced a big vision and decided they could deliver a higher level of patient care by partnering under one roof with established oral and maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Joe Baptist.

Adding a periodontist was the next logical move — and Dr. Quinlin still considers herself lucky to have been in the right place at the right time to be the first.

“It was terrifying, but I had a little experience on my side,” Quinlin said. “I was confident in my skills as a clinician, but I was nervous because I wanted the other doctors to trust me with their patients.” On her second day, one of the endodontists requested her perspective on a case, and she began to settle into the new environment.

“Being able to work inside the integrated model allows me to have a wider knowledge base and to pull from that for any given case,” Dr. Quinlin said. “It gives me confidence in how I am treating the patient, and it gives patients confidence because all the doctors are in one place, communicating and collaborating. The advantages of having all the minds in one place is huge.” Today, Cameo has a team of 22 doctors, hailing from all three specialties.

“I won’t ever practice another way,” Dr. Quinlin said.

In 2022, Cameo joined Specialized Dental Partners (formerly US Endo Partners), a specialty dental service organization focused on revolutionizing oral health by partnering with periodontists, endodontists, and oral and maxillofacial surgeons to bring integrated care to practices in communities across the country.

“The thing that stands out most to me about Specialized Dental Partners is the culture — egos don’t exist,” she said. “There is a hive mentality, which gives us strength from within. We are all working together to not only be successful within our own offices but also to let others stand on our shoulders to grow and maximize individual potential.”

“It’s amazing for us as clinicians but even more so for our patients,” Quinlin said.

Learn more at www.specializeddental.com.

This information was provided by Specialized Dental Partners.