by Mark Hartley
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Due to circumstances, only three people celebrated Christmas at my house this year. The youngest of the trio was 53 (me). We exchanged Tempur-Pedic gifts. One of us got slippers with the Tempur-Pedic padding. Another aging member of the family received a Tempur-Pedic pillow. I got this cushion that's in the shape of a wedge for back pain.
We need some younger blood around here in a bad way, don't we?
I'm working on it.
In the meantime, Happy National Children's Dental Health Month to you! For richer or poorer, Americans still need to know about the exciting advances in dentistry. So best wishes in your efforts as ambassadors this month.
Last month, the Academy of General Dentistry launched a consumer Web site called KnowYourTeeth.com. The academy believes mothers are pivotal decision makers in the dental care of family members, so the Web site is designed for “Mom” (see related article on page 20). According to their research, 90% of mothers decide on who the family dentist will be.
But the Web site also targets college graduates, for example, as well as hosting quizzes and contests aimed at children.
But if you lean toward more mature reading material, be sure to check out “the Dental Maven” blog. Apparently, a female dentist is its author. Very funny stuff. My guess is that a conservative, stuffed-shirt dentist will lead a crusade to ban it, and the blog won't last. Read it while you can.
The “Mom” angle sticks with me a little bit. Is that politically correct? Let's assume Dad is totally clueless about pediatric dentistry. Whatever happend to the trend of more grandparents raising children? Do you think they remember everything about rearing a child? A younger hygienist was talking about potty training, as in “help me end this endless flood of” ... I racked my brains about it. All I remember is being sort of successful at it. We finally convinced the three kids that toilets are friendly and not monsters. However, we were not even close to earning the Guinness World Records entry for fastest potty training.
But you know what? The kids turned out all right, except for leaving me alone to “ooh” and “aah” over Tempur-Pedic products with two elders of the family. But that's another Editor's Note.
Two of the articles in this issue offer more than a passing reference to the RDH Under One Roof conference. Last year during the “UOR” conference in Chicago, Juli Kagan and Ann-Marie DePalma met Pamela Rachil, who drove a long way in her Volkswagen with a cat in the back window to attend UOR (page 34). In addition, if you did attend the Chicago conference last summer, you likely spotted the “pink wigs.” Cathy Seckman profiles the entrepreneurs underneath those wigs (page 40).
The magazine will provide more details about the 2009 UOR (July 28-31 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas) in an upcoming issue. The conference was hosted in that location in 2006.
Details are also available on the www.rdhunderoneroof.com site. The site has been redesigned. All of the course information for the 2009 UOR is available there. In addition, there is information about the exhibitors and other “networking” aspects that the conference is famous for.
In addition, videos are more prevalent on the UOR site now. You can even catch a glimpse of the pink wigs at Dental Giggles.
Finally, given the concerns over the economy, I would be remiss to overlook pointing out RDH Event on March 12-13 (see ad on 69). No suitcases, airline fares, or hotel bills required. You just need an Internet connection for this fourth “virtual” hygiene conference.
