We Are Back!

Maxine Clare Pierce

It has been a crazy couple months since our last post. Amber had her first baby in January, our doctor had an serious, unexpected illness in March and Gina had surgery in July. Things have been very hectic around here and we have not had the time to blog. Everything is back to normal now and WE ARE BACK and ready to share more dental assisting tips and fun things going on in our office. So keep following us on Facebook for new posts! We also want to hear from you- so please give us your feedback we look forward to hearing from you!

Divas Take on Las Vegas

We just returned from a team building trip to Las Vegas. Here is a run down of our activities.......

Wednesday, November 9th-We touched down in Las Vegas and headed to our hotel, Planet Hollywood-right in the center of the strip.

Thursday, November 10th-"Movie Stars for the Day"

Off to New Patients Inc. to film video clips for our website. They rolled out the red carpet for us

with a spread of refreshments and a make-up artist to "glam us up" for the shoot. After many out takes and bloopers we finished filming with very professional results. NPI will do the editing and we will soon be able to view the finished product!

  

That evening we celebrated by going to dinner and the "O" Cirque du Soleil show at the beautiful Bellagio Hotel. The show was amazing and was one of the highlights of our trip.

November 11th & 12th-Madow Brother's TBSE("the best seminar ever")

Friday and Saturday we attended a fun, practice management, team building and inspirational seminar at Planet Hollywood. The Madow's encourage you to "dress up" in crazy attire, so we wore our Dental Diva shirts and pink boa's!

Saturday evening was our final night in Vegas so we walked the strip, toured some hotels and had dinner. Sunday morning we left for home all pumped up as a team and ready to implement all the good tips we received. It was so nice to get out of the office and re-energize ourselves so we could come home and give our best to our patients and one another. We are so thankful to have such a great doctor to work for who truly appreciates her team and includes us in these fun outings.

Exciting Announcements!!!

Wow, have we been busy!  Time flies when you're having fun.  Amber and I have been working with several extern dental assisting students from local schools, and time has gotten away from us. 

In case any of you were wondering, YES, I passed my state board exam and have been licensed as an EFDA (expanded functions dental assistant) for the past few months.  I love being a dental assistant and being an EFDA allows me to love my job even more by having more responsibilities.  I owe a huge "Thank You" to Dr. Cockley for allowing me to continue my education and for placing her confidence in me. 

  

Our other EFDA, Amber, is also very excited to announce that she's going to me a "Mommy" for the first time!  She will be having a beautiful baby girl early next year. Do I even need to mention that we're all very excited for her?  Our closely-knit office of eight women will spoil her rotten.  Congratulations Amber!     

It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day things that we do at work, but I encourage you to find something to get excited about!  What's going on in your office that's special right now?  If you can't think of anything - maybe you should be the one to start the excitement.  Bring in a home-made treat to share, an inspirational article, or maybe it's something as simple as writing a note to your team members letting them know why you appreciate them.  Don't forget to let your patients in on the fun and share your excitement.  

                                                           

Welcome to the "Real World"

Congratulations Gina on completing 120 hours of didactic in-classroom training and achieving a 4.0 GPA in the expanded functions dental assisting program! She will now perform 80 hours of clinical externship in our office under the supervision of Dr. Lori Cockley. Gina will have the opportunity to apply her skills on "real" patients instead of her typodont model. She is excited and nervous but ready to take on a new challenge. Look for future posts about her experiences in the weeks to come. 

We Want to Hear From You!

Our goal in starting this dental assisting blog was to  network with other dental assistants, and post feedback, helpful hints, and discussion topics that are important to you.  We would like to meet our readers and want to extend an invitation to you to become a "follower" of our blog. If your a member of blogspot it's-easy just click the "Follow" icon at the top left hand corner of our blog. If you are not a member go to the bottom of the page and press "Follow". You can also, email us your questions, comments, and discussion topics. We will also post your great ideas and pearls to share with other assistants.

EFDA School Update

It's hard to believe it has already been two months since I started class towards getting my EFDA license.  (Not to mention it's been nine years since I was in a classroom setting or have taken a test!  - A little intimidating, but I'm always up for a challenge.)  Continuing education courses and seminars have frequently been a part of my position as a dental assistant.  However, being a student again has required some adjustment and self-discipline.  I've been brushing up on my note-taking and study skills and I'm thankful to say that it has definitely paid off. 

It's exciting to learn and develop new skills in restorative dentistry, and I can't wait to put them to use in our practice.  Obtaining your EFDA license not only improves your knowledge and abilities as an assistant, but also adds to value to your practice as a whole.  Being in an educational environment with other dental assistants from different practices is also a great way to network and gain useful information. 

If you are interested in the possibility of becoming an EFDA, take the first step by discussing it with your doctor.  Then, look into programs at local schools.  You will find many of them offer evening and weekend classes that allow you to continue your current work schedule. 

My midterm is only two weeks away...........back to studying!     

Gina's 1st Day of School

Gina starts her first day of Expanded Function Assisting School tonight! Her program will run from September to February and then she will be required to complete a set number of hours in an externship program,  performing expanded function duties in the dental office. After that is complete, she will take her state exam and receive her license to practice as an expanded function assistant under the supervision of a dentist.

It is always important to continue to grow as an assistant and if the state you live in enables you to expand your assisting skills-take advantage of it! In the state of Pennsylvania where we practice, EFDA's can place/polish composite restorations as well as sealants, coronal polish, apply fluoride and fabricate temporary crowns. Gina will blog about her experiences in the weeks to come.

Don't ever say, " I'm just a dental assistant."

You may be wondering how this blog could be useful to you or how you could benefit from reading our posts or actively participating by giving us feedback. We want to clarify our purpose for creating this blog.  There are numerous resources out there for dentists and hygienists to network and share ideas with each other for things that do and don't work in their practices.  Sadly, there are practically no resources for assistants.  We are an important part of the dental team and equally need to network and support each other to lead a productive and satisfying career in the dental field.

Dental assisting is anything but boring! It would be boring if all you're doing is suctioning spit!  If you're bored as an assistant, we want you to ask yourself why.  Think about what roles and responsibilities you could take on to challenge yourself and help make your doctor happy and  the practice as a whole become more productive. Your role as an assistant is much more important than just suctioning and assisting your doctor during restorative procedures.  You are the one person in the practice who really knows your doctor best.  You spend the most time with him/her by working side-by-side - all day, everyday.  If you're good at what you do, they know and appreciate that.  But now it's time to take it a step further. 

Is your doctor making the temporary crowns for your patients?  Is he or she the one to discuss and present treatment plans to your patients?  Who is doing the whitening procedures in your office?  If the answer is your doctor - why?  Each of you is fully capable of doing each of these tasks.  Depending on your state's laws, if you are an EFDA (expanded function dental assistant), you could be placing direct restorations and sealants.  There are so many roles we play as a dental assistant and we want to reveal those in detail to you in the near future.  Taking on these responsibilities will alleviate stress on your doctor, free up your schedule, allow your practice to become more profitable, possibly increase your paycheck, and most importantly, you will have more fun at work!

So remember, you're not "just a dental assistant."  We have the advantage of having a close relationship with our doctor and our patients.  As we continue to post information, please share your comments and your helpful hints.  Through our different experiences and dental education, we all have something to share and learn from each other.