politan areas where schools are located. Few uprooted, formerly rural healthcare workers return to rural settings.


5. Shorten the professional educational development cy- cle. In his book, The Soul of a New Machine, Tracy Kidder chronicles Hewlett Packard’s successful effort to shorten the development cycle for bringing new computers to the market from years to months. HP’s culture had equated time with “doing it right”. Tom West, the leader of the HP project, was quoted as saying “The world is moving faster than we are. We need to keep up.” Dentistry needs to do the same thing in professional education. Given the fu- ture workforce implications, we can’t afford to wait eight years for new dentists to join the workforce, or three to four years for hygienists, or one to three years for EFDAs. There are many people who are not being cared for, and we need to change so the future looks better!


6. Lobby for increased funds for dental education. Just because our educational infrastructure is behind the de- mand curve doesn’t mean we shouldn’t invest to increase its capacity. Increasing the capacity of our educational programs is critically important. It just can’t be the only solution.


7. Expand use of telehealth modalities to leverage existing workforce. Modern technology has enabled us to reach out to patients from a distance. We are discovering new ways almost daily to use computers, phones, cameras and now integrate AI to help patients. Embrace telehealth. It will be an essential tool to help during times when there are too few healthcare providers and too many patients.


8. Integrate AI. Like it or not, the use of artificial intelli- gence interfacing and assisting in patient interactions is a foregone conclusion in healthcare. Mayo Clinic commu- nicated in July that it has trained and implemented an AI patient interface to facilitate care. AI assisted procedures will be a fee-linked procedure, much like a problem-ori- ented exam. Using AI to assist in distant patient interac- tions allows a stressed healthcare workforce to use more time for face-to-face patient encounters.


9. Remember kindness and respect. If you want to have people continue to help you deliver care to your patients, take Dr. Patzman’s advice. Treat your staff and colleagues kindly and with respect. You have a choice: you can make staff want to stay or want to leave.


I will never fully understand why Dr. Patzman chose to adopt and mentor me at our first meeting 38 years ago. Now that I am approximately the age he was at the time, I have a better idea. With each passing day, I appreciate his wisdom. Like Dr. Patzman, I envy the opportunities you will explore!


Dr. Guy Deyton is a former MDA President and Missouri Dental Board member, and is immediate past Missouri Director of Oral Health, Office of Dental Health. Contact him at guydeyton@gmail.com.


High School DA Program CONTINUED


FROM PAGE 25


The Pike/Lincoln Technical Career Center in Eolia (Pike County) is one of three that will be working with ODH. Others include Clinton Technical School in Clinton (Henry County) and Lewis & Clark Career Center in St. Charles (St. Charles County).


These schools will be working with ODH, and private dental offices, Compass Health Network and other FQHCs to make this dental assist- ing program a reality in Missouri.


To start the programs, we would hire instructor(s) to teach the didactic portion of dental assisting in the classroom. Instructors would dem- onstrate techniques within the individual classrooms and organize the intern opportunities for the students. The first year would include purchasing equipment and getting instructor(s) in place. The follow- ing years, the career centers would receive tuition funding from their sending districts and state grants to cover the costs. Our plan is to film all the classes and make a repository so future districts can utilize the curriculum materials. The individual school districts also can apply for federal grants to establish new dental assisting programs across the state.


Our goal is to have 12 students each in the morning and afternoon in each of the three schools. Current student enrollment in Clinton is 500+, Pike-Lincoln is 300+, and Lewis & Clark is 500+. Both Pike-Lin- coln and Clinton also serve area adults. In addition to their area public schools, all three career centers also serve some of the local private schools. If the project provides a well-trained dental assistant educated in their own hometowns, they are likely to stay and address the need for trained dental assistants in rural areas. This dental team member also can receive a higher salary to reflect their EFDA certification. More importantly, the development of this educational program can be duplicated across Missouri, allowing both individuals and communities to thrive. This program would impact the equity of care when a trained dental assistant is able to assist the dentist in providing more efficient dental care. We also hope to train ethnically diverse populations to be- come part of the dental team, thus improving access to well-paying jobs as soon as the student graduates with their dental assisting certificate and diploma.


In a 2022 Dental Assisting National Board Dental Assistants Salary and Satisfaction Survey, it was reported three out of four dental assistants agree dental assisting is a career, not a job. We look forward to this program exposing more students, earlier, to becoming a valued dental team member in the great profession of dentistry.


Dr. Jackie Miller is the Missouri Director of Oral Health, Office of Dental Health. Contact her at jacqueline.miller@health.mo.gov.


ISSUE 3 | FALL 2023 | focus 27


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