I like Indiana. There. I said it ... and I mean it. I like the Hoosier State. The people are nice. I’m a heartland kind of guy (being a born and bred Okie), so maybe I’m just comfortable in the Midwest. Some people don’t consider farmland as scenery, but I do. I like seeing cows grazing by silos and rolling hills.
These are the thoughts I was having as I was sitting outside the Culver’s in Anderson, Ind., eating my vanilla and blueberry custard, and watching the sunset. Final preparations would begin the next day for Professional Dental Assisting 2007. A year’s worth of planning was about to come to life, and I have to admit I was excited.
Indiana is a special place to me. One of my best friends in the world lives in Muncie and I’ve visited him and his family several times. It also will always hold good memories for me as the birthplace of PDA. Our conference grew its roots in Indianapolis and now it’s ready to move forward and continue to grow.
If you haven’t done so already, mark your calendar for April 24-26, 2008, as PDA descends upon the Marriott Waterside in Norfolk, Va. With the change in venue also comes a change in focus for the show. We’ve listened to feedback and we’re ready to make PDA even bigger and better. Simply put - you wanted more hands-on courses ... and you got them. PDA will be almost exclusively hands-on in 2008, making it the premier destination for dental assistants who want to learn the best tips and techniques and be able to implement them immediately into the practice.
PDA 2008 will be a great show. You can find more information at www.professionaldentalassisting.com.
Start Spreading the News...
Dental assistants, get ready. I’m excited to announce that PDA will also make its presence felt at the Greater New York Dental Meeting this November. Working together, PennWell and the Greater New York Dental Meeting will present PDA-New York on Monday, Nov. 26, at the Javits Convention Center.
Char Sweeney, CDPMA, will be presenting a half-day lecture - “The 10 Latest Trends in Practice Management” - on Monday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. If you’ll be at the GNYDM, I strongly encourage you to attend this course. It is always great to see dental assistant CE being emphasized at major dental meetings, and my sincere thanks to Dr. Robert Edwab and the GNYDM committee for teaming up with PDA and Dental Office to make this course a reality.
For more information on the Greater New York Dental Meeting and/or PDA-New York, logon to www.gnydm.com.
I Need Your Help
Many of you became my MySpace friends after reading my column in the May/June issue of Dental Office. I appreciate you joining my list of friends. If you’re on MySpace, check out my site at www.myspace.com/kgh23 and ask me to be your friend. The more, the merrier.
I belong to a dental assistant group on MySpace and I often read what is being said on the threads. One of the more recent ones was entitled, “Doubting the career choice.” In there, a couple of dental assistants voiced their feelings on the not-so-fun side of being a dental assistant (as one put it, “We are paid the least and we do all the work that no one else wants to do”). The way to solve this problem? Go into hygiene, according to some of the other posters in the group.
What can be done to boost the morale of the everyday dental assistant? Drop me a line at [email protected] and let’s talk about it.
Read on, this is your magazine...
Kevin Henry
Editor-in-Chief
