Conference Explores Challenges for Women Dentists
By David G. JonesWomen no longer practice solely in the traditional roles in dentistry they principally occupied over the past decades. They have joined the ranks of dentists in record numbers and in doing so have found that they confront the same challenges that all dentists face, and a few more that are uniquely theirs. The result is a complex web of business and personal interrelationships that present women dentists with many challenges to overcome.
To provide them with some answers, CDA has developed a full day of powerful information and professional tips to help women dentists overcome their unique professional and personal challenges. Developed with the guidance of a diverse team of women dentists, "Reaching For Excellence! -- A Conference for the Woman Dentist," is a program full of information to help them negotiate the maze of dentistry from the perspective of a woman.
The day-long event on Sept. 14, immediately preceding CDA’s Fall Scientific Session at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, will include a C.E. class on women’s oral health issues and a panel discussion on issues facing women dentists. Workshops are scheduled on topics ranging from managing the dental team to balancing career and lifestyle.
CDA President Kent Farnsworth, DDS, says that the conference is a project the association has been looking to do for some time.
"There was some initial concern that we were singling women out, but it’s evident from the subject matter that we are meeting the needs of all our members," he says. "It’s particularly important that we make sure we address the specialized needs of our female members. The conference will certainly go a long way toward doing that."
Suze Orman, a nationally known certified financial planner, will provide the day’s keynote address. The national best-selling author of The Courage to Be Rich and The Nine Steps to Financial Freedom is a financial contributor to NBC’s "Today" show. Last year Smart Money magazine recognized Orman as one of its 30 "Power Brokers" in a report profiling individuals who most influenced the mutual fund industry. Her presentation will combine practical advice, personal exercises, compelling case studies, and provocative insights as she addresses the financial issues and milestones women face.
Bette Robin, DDS, JD, will make another specialized presentation called "Woman, Employer and Dentist: Making it Work." The hour-long presentation will focus on the employment issues women dentists face in the dental practice, especially in light of the fact that most dental staff members are also women.
"Many female dentists bond with their female staffs in a more personal way than male dentists, often making employment-related decisions difficult for many women dentists," Robin says. "In this seminar, I’ll show attendees ways to avoid these pitfalls and maintain a friendly, satisfying, and professional relationship with their staffs."
Robin, who obtained her law degree after being sued by an employee in her practice, says she hopes to provide a general awareness of employment law that is severely lacking.
"I’ll go through ways women can cope with some of the issues that can be harsh from an employee standpoint," Robin says. "And we’ll explore ways to make employee issues into business decisions rather than emotional decisions so they won’t result in lawsuits from showing favoritism. I’ll also provide content on actual employment laws and how to deal with them."
An issue transcending all areas of a woman dentist’s career is related to the unique personal challenges of marriage and child rearing, and balancing family and work. Part of the conference will focus on that important issue in a panel discussion called "Professional Options/Personal Choices: The Juggling Act." A team of five woman dentists will act as panelists exploring a variety of issues with the audience.
Panel member Debra S. Finney, DDS, CDA’s treasurer, says women dentists wear many hats as moms, dentists, and employers.
"It seems I always have about 10 balls in the air at a time," Finney says. "It’s not specific to dentistry, but women with demanding careers who are also raising families have a difficult time of it."
Finney says that the best way she’s found to balance her busy life will also be a topic of discussion at the panel.
"I’ve found that the networking, being able to talk with other women, helps me best," she says. "Being able to have a support system can give women dentists the knowledge that they’re not alone."
Farnsworth said that the conference promises to be helpful for women dentists and organized dentistry in general.
"It will be helpful to women dentists to help them address the problems unique to their approach to dentistry," he says, "and for CDA it will show we are trying to reach out to a diverse population as part of our stated goals for the new century."
Finney likened the full day of events to a women dentist’s busy life.
"I don’t know how I’ll juggle the conference trying to go to all the seminars," she says. "Attendees can’t go to everything, but we’ve tried to look at the whole ball of wax offering educational courses that will grant C.E. units, practice management issues, financial planning, and also looking at how we are different as employers and how we interact differently in the workplace."
Ancient Medical Texts Available on the Web
Medieval medicine went high-tech recently when the National Library of Medicine unveiled its illustrated catalog of Islamic medical manuscripts on the Web.
"The National Library of Medicine has one of the three greatest collection of Islamic medical manuscripts in the world," said Emilie Savage-Smith, an American scholar from Oxford University and one of the world’s foremost authorities on Islamic medicine.
A treatise written by the famous physician and clinician al-Razi (known to Europeans as Rhases) is the crown jewel of the library’s collection.
"It is believed to be the third oldest Arabic medical manuscript in the world," said Dr. Elizabeth Fee, chief of the History of Medicine Division. Beautifully scripted, the manuscript’s pages are still in superb condition.
The library acquired its collection from various sources, including purchases made from a bequest of Dr. William F. Edgar, a physician who in 1849 took a wagon train over the Oregon Trail and settled in California.
Dr. Philip M. Teigen, who has coordinated the library’s 10-year project, which included an earlier exhibit and a symposium on Islamic medical manuscripts, said, "We wanted to take the treasures of our Islamic Medicine collection and make them more widely available to the general public. Publishing them on the World Wide Web seemed to be the best way to reach the largest number of people."
The manuscripts can be accessed at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/arabic/arabichome.html.
CDC Dispels Medical Hoaxes
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a new section of its Web site devoted to dispelling current health-related rumors and hoaxes.
Some of these rumors falsely claim that the CDC has verified the information. Much of the misinformation is being spread via the Internet and e-mail.
"So many of the hoaxes used the CDC as a supporting voice of authority in their messages, so we decided to make a formal response," said CDC spokesman Tom Skinner.
The CDC’s "Current Health Related Hoaxes and Rumors" page gives the correct information on a variety of recent stories, including:
* Does HIV Cause AIDS?
* False E-mail Report: Hantavirus Spread by Contact With Soda Cans or Grocery Packages.
* False E-mail Report: Klingerman Virus.
* False Internet Report: Bananas.
* Needle Stick Hoaxes.
The page can be accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/hoax_rumors.htm.
NIH Funds UCSF Study
The National Institutes of Health has awarded $900,000 to the University of California at San Francisco to study how best to prevent childhood caries.
The UCSF School of Dentistry’s Comprehensive Oral Health Research Center of Discovery will use the funds to study how various social, behavioral and biological factors affect the dental health of San Francisco’s children in Chinatown and the Mission District.
A previous study found that up to 30 percent of children under age 6 at San Francisco health centers already had early childhood caries and that it was particularly prevalent among Latino and Asian children.
UCSF hopes to recruit 400 families for the study. For more information on enrollment, please call (415) 476-5692.
OSAP Releases New Waterline Statement
The Organization for Safety & Asepsis Procedures has released its new position paper on dental unit waterlines that updates and expands its original 1997 document.
The new paper includes comprehensive background information on the issue and addresses the use of coolant and irrigating solutions in dentistry, methods to improve and maintain the quality of water used in dental treatment, the responsibilities of manufacturers in improving the quality of dental treatment water, and clinician responsibilities. A complete glossary of dental unit waterline terminology is also included in the fully referenced position paper, as is a list of Internet resources.
Although there is no documented epidemiological evidence of a widespread public health problem, the presence in dental waterlines of potential human pathogens (including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Legionella species, and non-tuberculous Mycobacterium) species suggests reason for concern. In fact, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has recently alerted its compliance officers of the potential for occupational exposure to bacteria from contaminated dental waterlines.
Utilizing an easy-to-understand format that couples position statements with their rationale, the OSAP Position Paper on Dental Unit Waterlines can be incorporated into annual staff training as required by OSHA. It also provides information that can be used to address patient questions and concerns about the safety of dental treatment and dental unit water.
The position paper is free to OSAP members and available to nonmembers for $10. For more information, contact the OSAP Central Office, P.O. Box 6297, Annapolis, MD 21401, call (800) 298-OSAP, or visit www.osap.org.
Dental Problems Change Lions’ Diet to Humans
In 1898, a pair of male lions stalked and devoured more than 130 railroad workers as they built a bridge over the Tsavo River in southeastern Kenya. Construction was halted until the lions were hunted down and killed.
What made the lions go berserk? In a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists, zoologists Bruce Patterson and dentist Ellis Neiburger say dental problems may be to blame.
They report that tooth problems may have forced at least one of the lions to look for a new source of food. Their findings support the theory that some habitual man-eaters (usually lions, tigers, and leopards) turn to humans for food when a chronic injury or infirmity prevents them from pursuing fast-moving prey like zebras or gazelles.
"Humans are easy prey," Patterson said. "We’re very slow, we don’t hear very well, and we don’t see very well in the dark."
Patterson and Neiburger examined the teeth and jaws of three man-eating lions in the collection of the Field Museum in Chicago: the two males from Tsavo and the Man-Eater of Mfuwe that killed six people in 1991 near Zambia’s Luangwa Valley.
All three lions exhibited noteworthy dental and jaw problems. Worst off was one of the Tsavo lions, who was missing three teeth in a row and had a broken lower canine with a large root-tip abscess. The upper canine had rotated into an awkward, dysfunctional position.
ICD Honors CDA Journal
The Journal of the California Dental Association has received two awards in the year 2000 USA Section of the International College of Dentists Journalism Awards Competition.
The May 1999 issue, "Infectious Disease at the Millennium" received the Platinum Pen First Place Award for writing that is of current importance to the dental professional. The contributing editor for the issue was Thomas J. Pallasch, DDS, MS.
In addition, the June 1999 issue on Dr. Bob Horseman was honored with a Special Citation for recognizing "a face of dentistry not usually seen in a publication." Steven D. Chan, DDS, was contributing editor.
"Beyond its central mission to provide dental scientific information and news, the CDA Journal is in a unique position to be able to devote an occasional issue to a human-interest topic," said Jack F. Conley, DDS, editor. "We are pleased to be recognized by the International College because their awards program for dental publications has consistently set the standards for dental journalism."
Honors
John Featherstone, PhD, chair of the Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences at the University of California at San Francisco School of Dentistry has been appointed to the Leland and Gladys Barber Distinguished Professorship.
Karin Vargervick, DDS, chair of the UCSF Department of Growth and Development and director of its Center for Craniofacial Anomalies has been appointed to the Larry L. Hillblom Distinguished Professorship in Craniofacial Anomalies.
Web Watch
Pages on women’s health.
The National Women’s Health Information Center. To find dental-related information, search by Topic in the Ds and click Dentistry/Dental Health from the drop-down menu.
The Office of Women’s Health. The site has information on government programs and initiatives regarding women’s health.
http://www.ama-assn.org/special/womh/womh.htm
Journal of the American Medical Association Women’s Health Information Center. The page contains news and in-depth special reports on women’s health.
http://www.nytimes.com/specials/women/whome/index.html
New York Times Women’s Health. The page has news information on women’s health issues.
http://www.womensoralhealth.org/
Melissa J. Wages won the CDA 1999 Table Clinic Competition in Anaheim by creating this Web site, which includes a variety of information on oral health.
Upcoming Meetings
2000
Sept. 15-17 CDA Scientific Session, San Francisco, (916) 443-3382, Ext. 4470
Sept. 17-20 American Academy of Periodontology Annual Meeting, Honolulu, www.perio.org
Oct. 1-4 Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists 64th Annual Session, Reno, Nev., (415) 441-2410
Oct. 14-18 ADA Annual Session, Chicago, (312) 440-2500
Oct. 19-21 Academy of Surgical Research Annual Meeting (612) 545-1919, http://www.surgicalresearch.org/00sess.htm
Oct. 26-28 American Society for Dental Aesthetics, Millennium International Conference, San Francisco, (800) 454-2732, www.asdatoday.com
Nov. 5-11 U.S. Dental Tennis Association Annual Meeting, Palm Desert, Calif., (800) 445-2524.
Nov. 15-18 American College of Prosthodontics annual session, (312) 573-1260, Ext. 15.
Nov. 29-Dec. 2 FDI World Dental Congress, Paris, http://www.fdi.org.uk/congress/index.htm
2001
March 4-10 U.S. Dental Tennis Association Spring Meeting, Longboat Key, Fla., (800) 445-2524
April 19-22 CDA Scientific Session, Anaheim, (916) 443-3382, Ext. 4470
May 4-8 Australian Dental Congress, Brisbane, +61 (0) 7 3369 0477
Sept. 14-16 CDA Scientific Session, San Francisco, (916) 443-3382, Ext. 4470
To have a meeting included on this list, please send the information to Upcoming Meetings, CDA Journal, P.O. Box 13749, Sacramento, CA 95853 or fax the information to (916) 443-2943.
