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Beyond the Bite

The Official Blog of the Florida Dental Association

Category: General

Crafting a Life of Excellence

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By Karen Weeks

Crafting a Life of Excellence: Strategies for Personal Triumph

Embarking on the quest for personal fulfillment and success is a multifaceted endeavor, demanding determination, self-reflection and strategic action. This journey is defined by a relentless pursuit of growth, an unwavering embrace of challenges and a steadfast commitment to celebrating each milestone. It’s a path that unfolds through continuous evolution, resilience and the joy of achievement. 

The Essence of Unyielding Determination

The road to your dreams is fraught with hurdles, yet your unwavering determination carves a path through the densest of adversities. Each obstacle encountered is not just a barrier but a chance to grow stronger and more resilient, teaching you that true strength is honed in the crucible of failure. Your persistence acts as the beacon that guides your journey, illuminating the darkness and transforming every setback into a steppingstone toward your ultimate goal.

Discovering Your Inner Landscape

Delving into the depths of your psyche illuminates the unique strengths and vulnerabilities that define you and serves as a voyage of discovery to your most authentic self. This exploration of self-awareness is crucial, unveiling the core desires and values that guide your life’s decisions. Aligning your actions with these deep-seated convictions ensures that your path is one of purpose and profound personal satisfaction.

Advancing Your Career with Knowledge

In an ever-changing professional landscape, continuous learning is a beacon of advancement. Undertaking further education, like a cybersecurity degree, sharpens your skills and significantly enhances your career prospects. Knowing how to protect computer systems and networks makes you a valuable job candidate in countless fields. The convenience of online learning makes it feasible to juggle work, life and study, offering a flexible route to personal and professional development.

The Enrichment of Personal Pursuits

Hobbies offer a sanctuary for the soul, where creativity and curiosity flourish without the constraints of obligations or expectations. These pursuits, be they artistic, botanical or musical, serve not only as outlets for stress but as wellsprings of joy and personal growth. They enrich your life, adding layers of fulfillment and connection to the world around you.

Radiating Confidence Through Wellness

A healthy smile is the foundation of confidence, profoundly influencing self-perception and our impressions of others. Prioritizing dental health transcends aesthetic appeal, embodying a commitment to self-care that bolsters self-esteem and enhances overall well-being. The radiance of a vibrant smile has the power to open doors and build bridges, fostering connections that enrich personal and professional lives.

Crafting Healthy Boundaries for Balance

Establishing clear boundaries is akin to drawing a map of your life, marking out territories for work, relationships and self-care. These boundaries are not walls but guidelines that help you allocate your time and energy according to what truly matters. By honoring these limits, you protect your well-being, foster healthier relationships and live a life that is authentically yours.

The Gift of Contribution

Volunteering extends your influence beyond your immediate surroundings, creating ripples of positive change in the community and within yourself. Giving is a profound source of fulfillment, offering a sense of purpose and interconnectedness. Whether through mentorship, charity or environmental activism, your contributions forge a legacy of compassion and civic engagement.

The art of living your best life is a continuous process of striving, learning and giving. It’s about crafting a journey that fulfills your aspirations and contributes positively to the world around you. By embracing persistence, cultivating self-awareness, developing hobbies, prioritizing health, advancing through education, setting boundaries and volunteering, you chart a life of depth, meaning, and excellence.

About the author: Karen Weeks is a Senior Lifestyle blogger. She struggled to find a new sense of purpose after retirement which made way to learn a new skill and took a computer course. She then created ElderWellness.net as a resource for seniors who wish to keep their minds, bodies and spirits well.

Are you maximizing the potential of your dental team?

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It’s hard to remember a time when it’s been more challenging to recruit and retain dental assistants and dental hygienists. When persistent staff shortages make it more difficult to run your dental practice efficiently, you must maximize every clinical employee’s potential and contributions. That’s where the Florida Dental Association’s (FDA) online dental assistant radiography program can help.

A practice’s workflow can be improved substantially when it relies on a certified dental assistant to perform radiography to take X-rays chairside properly. Dental assistants can relieve hygienists of the responsibility of taking full-mouth radiographs, allowing them to fit more patients into their day. An assistant can also help the dentist when an X-ray is needed during treatment.

Florida law requires dental assistants to receive training and a certificate before performing radiography. The FDA makes it easy to provide the education necessary to obtain state certification with the MyDentalRadiography online training course. It consists of nine modules that can be completed anytime, anywhere, from any web-enabled device. A quiz follows each module to ensure the student understands the material. After all modules are completed, the student takes a final examination of all course material. A score of 80% is required to pass the test, and the test can be retaken until the student passes.

After the course is complete, the student must expose a full-mouth series of radiographs, including four bite-wings, with a limit of five retakes. The radiographs must be exposed under the supervision of the dentist for patient safety. When the dentist approves of the exposures, he or she signs off on the assistant’s training and the assistant can then apply for certification from the state.

The training costs just $285 per assistant for FDA members and $385 for non-members.

The supervising dentist starts the training process by visiting mydentalradiography.com/fda and creating a dentist account. After completing a brief tutorial overview of the training process, the dentist receives a supervising dentist’s ID and can purchase vouchers for the assistants to be trained. Each assistant receives an email welcoming them to the course and can begin studying at their own pace.

To learn more about the online training program, call the FDA at 850. 681.3629.

Join the Conversation on Dental Chatter!

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Florida Dental Chatter is a private Facebook group designed for dentists to interact with other members, receive the latest updates and information and engage with Florida Dental Association (FDA) leaders and staff. Only those who are member dentists of the FDA and/or American Dental Association — as well as staff of the organizations — can join the group. Join today by visiting https://www.facebook.com/groups/floridadentalchatter/.

Among the many questions that are asked, one University of Florida College of Dentistry student posed the question, how do you handle sick children, parent-teacher conferences, etc. while working full time in a practice? Here are some of the responses:

“Lots of planning and communication! Recognizing that family comes first, and giving that same respect to your patients and your team makes any hiccups quickly and easily managed. Having a partner that’s a real PARTNER makes 100% of the difference! Flexibility and a sense of humor when all else fails!” – Dr. Becky Warnken

“One of the perks of having your own practice is the flexibility of making and adjust schedules as needed. Understanding staff and great support at home helps too. Also, make sure U and others realize u don’t have to be superwoman!” – Karin Irani

“You just do. Moms are superheros anyways and we always find a way. Take off for the important things. Life/schedule balance. Partner has to help too. At the end of the day your family comes first, dentistry second.” – Dr. Neila Bouchard

“Family help and we have an au pair that’s helps a lot. Blocking out the schedule early or scheduling conferences in evenings or Fridays when we are closed. But I agree that having a helpful partner with a flexible work schedule is the most important, choose your partner wisely.” – Dr. Jenna Schwibner

You can join in this conversation and others when you join the Florida Dental Chatter today!

Get Maximum Productivity From Radiography-Certified Dental Assistants 

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Workflow in your dental practice impacts its productivity. If only you and your dental hygienists can expose radiographs, you’re losing time and money. Dental assistants whose skill set includes radiography can help the practice run more efficiently by streamlining everyone’s workflow. With the tight labor market, investing in your dental assistants and getting them certified to perform radiography makes sense. You’ll reap the benefits, and they will be more satisfied and fulfilled in their work. 

Online radiography training is available from MyDentalRadiography.com 

Florida requires dental assistants to become certified to take radiographs. Fortunately, the Florida Dental Association (FDA) has the necessary solution. MyDentalRadiography is an online training program that prepares dental assistants to be certified. FDA members can enroll a dental assistant in the training for only $285. Non-members pay $385 per assistant. 

What’s involved in training?

The online training is accessible from any device that connects to the Web and is available 24/7. The training consists of nine modules, each with a quiz to check the student’s learning. A final exam consisting of 80 questions must be passed with a score of at least 80%. Students can retake the test until they master the material and receive a passing score. The next step is for the student to complete a full-mouth exposure, including four bite-wings, in five or fewer attempts under your supervision. Once you, as the supervising dentist, have signed off on the radiographs, a certificate is issued, and the student can apply to the state for radiography certification.

How to get started

Make becoming certified in dental radiography a performance goal of your dental assistants. Discuss the benefits of additional training with them and explain that they don’t need to travel to a class, take time away from the office, or learn on someone else’s timetable. With MyDentalRadiography, your dental assistants are in control of their learning and can complete the curriculum at their own pace. Here’s what you need to know to get your assistants trained.

  • First, you must go to mydentalradiography.com/fda and create a dentist’s account. You’ll view a short tutorial explaining how the program works and your responsibilities. After completing the tutorial, you’ll receive a supervising dentist’s ID number. 
  • Then, you can purchase vouchers for each assistant you wish to train. You’ll need an email address for each assistant; they may not share an email account.
  • MyDentalRadiography then sends an email to each student, advising them to create an account and log in to begin their training. They will need your supervising dentist ID number to do so. The training platform keeps track of their progress, and each time they log in, it picks up where they left off.  
  • Students will receive automated email reminders to create their accounts. You can monitor their progress by logging into your account. 
  • When a student completes and passes the online portion of the program, you will receive an emailed notice that they are ready to expose the full-mouth X-rays under your supervision.
  • When the X-rays have been completed to your satisfaction, you sign into your account and certify that they have successfully completed that step.
  • MyDentalRadiography creates a certificate you can print, sign and present to the assistant. 
  • The assistant then applies to the state of Florida for certification, following the directions MyDentalRadiography provides.

Get started now

Develop your dental assistants to provide maximum value to your practice. If you need more information, visit the Continuing Education section at FloridaDental.org, or call the FDA at 850.681.3629.