Zoom in with CAP
A lecture series for your referring doctors and hygienists, sponsored by Crest Oral B, offered at no charge to CAP members, their staff, and referring doctors. Please forward the registration page to your referring doctors with our compliments.
Emotional Intelligence as a Clinical Leadership Skill: Building Trust, Connection & Team Resilience
Thursday, October 29, 2026
8:00PM-9:30PM EST
Emotional Intelligence as a Clinical Leadership Skill: Building Trust, Connection & Team Resilience In modern dental practice, technical mastery alone is no longer enough. Today’s clinical environments are shaped by cognitive overload, digital distraction, rising patient anxiety, and team fatigue — all of which directly influence communication, treatment acceptance, and the emotional climate of the operatory. Emotional intelligence (EI) offers dental professionals a science-based pathway to “show up” everyday and lead with clarity, steadiness, and connection.
Drawing on neuroscience and stress physiology, this session explores how self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skill strengthen clinical leadership and reduce stress transmission within dental teams. Participants will learn how emotions arise in the brain and how these reactions shape behaviour, communication, and patient experience.
Through the SMART framework, Dr. Kristin Yont will demonstrate how dental professionals can regulate their nervous system, build presence, and cultivate the emotional intelligence required for trust-based patient relationships, and resilient practice culture. This session blends practical micro-skills, clinical examples, and leadership strategies that help dental professionals communicate with intention, navigate conflict, and lead with steadiness under pressure.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this 75-minute webinar, participants will be able to:
- Explain the neuroscience of emotional intelligence and its relevance to clinical leadership.
Participants will understand how leadership starts in the brain and how the prefrontal cortex supports regulation, and why self-awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence. They will connect these mechanisms to communication, decision-making, and patient trust. - Identify personal stress signatures and apply self-regulation strategies to maintain presence in clinical care.
Using SMART micro-practices, clinicians will learn to shift from reactive to intentional behaviour by calming the body, settling the mind, and restoring attentional control — reducing emotional contagion in the operatory and supporting clearer clinical judgment. - Describe the core components of emotional intelligence and how they influence patient relationships and team dynamics.
Participants will explore how emotional intelligence strengthens communication, conflict resolution, and treatment acceptance, and examine how stress contagion and emotional tone influence team culture, patient experience, and workplace retention. - Apply empathy-based communication tools to strengthen trust, connection, and collaboration with patients and team members.
Clinicians will learn strategies to shift perspective in the brain, recognize emotional cues, and use regulated, mindful communication to reduce patient anxiety, support team cohesion, and prevent empathy fatigue. - Integrate emotional intelligence into daily leadership behaviours to build resilient, high-functioning dental teams. Participants will learn how EI increases leadership capacity, strengthens presence, and supports a resilient culture where clinicians and teams can perform at their best
Dr. Kristin Yont, DMD, is a Calgary-based dentist, educator, and leader in mind-body medicine. In addition to co-owning her downtown practice, she has served as the dentist for the Calgary Flames NHL hockey team for 28 years and is currently the lead dentist for their medical team. She also brings extensive experience in forensic dentistry and has contributed to professional regulation through her service on the Complaints Review Committee for the College of Dental Surgeons of Alberta.
Dr. Yont is one of a select group of dentists in North America accredited to teach the SMART Program through the Benson Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. The Stress Management and Resiliency Training Program helps participants strengthen self-regulation, reduce medical symptoms, and enhance overall wellbeing through evidence-based mind-body practices.
Dr. Yont shares her work through workshops, retreats, and wellness programs for dental professionals, universities, healthcare associations, and business leaders. Her training includes Compassion Cultivation Training from Stanford, Mindfulness Approaches to Addictions through the Cambridge Health Alliance, and the Inner MBA program in conscious leadership. She has also completed Harvard’s Science of Leadership: The Brain, Resilience, and Mindfulness program, deepening her expertise in the neuroscience of leadership, emotional intelligence, and sustainable performance.
Kristin Yont, DMD
Jump the GAP with CAP
A webinar series designed for CAP members. Registration is complimentary for CAP members, with nominal fees for hygienists and non-CAP members.
Next Webinar is scheduled for November 26, 2026.
Details coming soon.
Why see a Periodontist?
The goal of periodontal therapy is to allow you to keep your teeth and your smile all your life.
More specifically, it allows to stop the progression of gum disease, to strengthen your gums and to replace if necessary missing teeth with implants.
In most cases, with appropriate treatments and your cooperation, it is possible to keep your teeth for life.
