Management + Leadership

New to networking? Watch these videos!

Screen Shot 2015-11-16 at 8.57.57 AMHave you ever found yourself at a networking event with seemingly nothing to say? It can be intimidating to walk up to strangers and start a conversation. Luckily, you can hone your networking skills with a little practice and some valuable tips. ASDA has made 11 videos on networking to help you launch into your professional career with confidence. Watch the videos in this post and check out ASDA’s Networking 101 page online.

News + Issues

Dental office smells can be tied to memories

Something StinksWe have all heard it before: scents are tied to memories. According to Psychology Today, this is likely due to the fact that the olfactory bulb is located near other areas of the brain that are strongly associated with memory and emotion. So how does the smell of a dental office have an impact on our patients?

The smell of your office could be a trigger for patients with dental anxiety. The first few seconds of walking into a dental office and checking in at the front desk could be an instant mood changer for some patients. Just the smell of a dental office might trigger a memory and the emotions of pain and anxiety linked to it.

Wellness

3 tips for simple, healthy, homemade meals

healthy-foodThey say you are what you eat, right? Eating healthy can be a challenge for students because of lack of time and money to spend on quality food. After a long day of studying or treating patients, it would be nice if we had a personal chef straight from Whole Foods to cook us dinner. Sadly, that’s not the case and we have to do our best to make healthy eating a priority in our busy dental school lives. After eating too many frozen dinners in college and not feeling so good afterwards, I decided to try to find easier ways to make healthy food while on a time crunch. Here are some of my tips and favorite recipes!

Advocacy

Using dental outreach as grassroots advocacy

girl at dentistThe American Dental Association wants to reduce the number of adults and children with untreated dental disease. Volunteer outreach events primarily serve this goal. Some patients travel hundreds of miles and wait for days in line just to get a tooth extracted. Many of these stories go untold, so it is our duty as future practitioners to speak for the underserved and get barriers to care at the forefront of the political agenda.

The ADA started the Action for Dental Health two years ago to combat access to care issues with three goals in mind: to treat patients in need now, to expand the private and public safety net, and to increase education and prevention. Read on to learn more.

News + Issues

Treating hearing-impaired patients

An unfortunate number of patients have a fear of the dentist. But imagine going to the dentist and having no warning when treatment is about to begin, not getting full explanations of what to expect during treatment, and being more sensitive than most to the vibration of a handpiece. This is a reality for many deaf and hard-of-hearing patients. Although a hearing patient may hear the handpiece and understand that work is about to begin, deaf patients lack such warning and are often taken by surprise. Deaf patients also tend to be more sensitive to vibration, so they find dental treatment to be particularly unpleasant.

While certain simple changes can be made to improve the deaf patient’s experience, technology has allowed patient care to be taken to the next level. Read on to find out more.

Wellness

Will you go dark for 24 hours?

Almost everythingwill work if youunplug (1)Thinking about my average weekday, my phone is never far from reach. My phone wakes me up in the morning, tells me when my bus will arrive and even pays for my morning coffee. I read the news on my phone on the way to work and I usually use it to check Facebook or Instagram during my lunch break. On the bus ride home, I listen to my NPR app to minimize screen time. I feel overstimulated.

I want to break the cycle. I want to see the ride to work instead of the Instagram feed on my phone. I want to talk to my husband instead of email him. And I want to feel like my experiences are still valid even if I don’t share them on social media.

Do you want these things too? Read on for details on ASDA’s very first Wellness Challenge!

Science + Tech

5 video accessories less than $100

Videos are still on the rise among chapters. YouTube channels are exploding with chapter and district videos and you better believe that people are watching them. From my experience, the difference between a high quality video and one that your chapter would rather not post can be as easy as having the right accessories to help you film. Below are five video accessories that you can find for under $100 that may help you take your videos up to the next level.