What a great meeting in San Francisco! It’s always wonderful to see so many friends in the dental industry, especially all of my friends from ADAA, DANB, and the dental assisting world. I was also lucky enough to speak twice in San Francisco, once on “Going green in the dental office” and once on “Battling and beating the demons of dental assisting.” I always enjoy the opportunity to speak with dental assistants on what’s going right and not-so-right in their careers. If you’re going to be in Denver for the Rocky Mountain Dental Conference in January, I’ll be speaking there so I hope I’ll see you in the audience!
One of the things I always talk about in my lectures is the importance of networking for dental assistants. No dental assistant should be an island. If you don’t have a group of dental assistants that you can talk to and share your joys and/or frustrations, you need to become part of a community where you can discuss problems and solutions and learn from others.
Part of my lecture on “Battling and beating the demons of dental assisting” is asking dental assistants to break into groups for about 20-30 minutes and just talk about what’s going on in their practices ... both the good and the bad. All people (including dental assistants) can learn from each other, so I strongly urge you to find a dental assistant ... or two ... or three who can be your ears on the good and bad days (and you can reciprocate for them).
There are so many ways you can connect with other dental assistants (including the Dental Assisting Digest Facebook page). You can also join the ADAA, and there’s a great article in this issue on why you should be a member. Whether it’s through social media, texting, phone calls, or after-work get-togethers, make sure you jump off that island and join a network.
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