Dental Assistant Appreciation Week March March 7th- March 13th 2021
In 1885, Dr. C. Edmund Kells recruited his wife to help him inside his dental practice. She was probably in charge of cleaning and organizing so that he could do more dentistry. His practice flourished and before you know it, he needed even more help and soon became the first dentist on record to hire a dental assistant. Back then, they were called, “Ladies In Attendance.” Don’t shoot the messenger. Respectable women were never alone with a man if not their husband. Malvina Cueria became the first dental assistant in history.
Dental assistants have come a long way.
If you look up the word, “multi-tasker” in the dictionary, you should see a picture of a dental assistant. In my humble opinion, dental assistants are the full synthetic oil that keeps your dental practice engines running for a lifetime. This week, I want to celebrate these spectacular individuals.
Dental assistants are the unsung heroes of the dental practice - the ones who tend to be the first ones to arrive and the last ones to leave. While the schedule is full of patients, dental assistants still manage to strategically figure out how they will be able to accomplish all the tasks in front of them.
A great deal of patient satisfaction is attributed to the hearts of dental assistants which is why the 2021 Dental Assistant Appreciation Week theme is so fitting,
“Our Hearts Go Into Every Smile”.
They are vital in building the relationship between doctor and patient. Even with all the endless tasks ahead of you, you still manage to put the patient first. You bring smiles to the faces of patients - big and small.
Over the years, I have had the privilege to work with hundreds of clinical departments within dental practices across North America. I want to thank all of the dental assistants I have personally worked with over the past year. It is because of you that our Reboot Practice Productivity Training was implemented successfully into your dental practice. Change can be scary but you owned it! I want to thank you for your open-mindedness and optimism. Thank you for sacrificing your evenings to work with me until the job was done.
I am all too familiar with the level of expertise that goes into Dental Assisting - because I, too, am a dental assistant. I am proud to be in the company of such remarkable people. This is why I will continue to do everything I can to make your job a lot easier.
