Winter 2017-18

29 nmdental.org New Dentist Committee The Dental Team: The Bigger Picture By Joe Gherardi, DDS— New Dentist Committee Chair As a new dentist one thing that I have quickly learned and come to appreciate is how significant the entire dental team is to the practice of dentistry. Not only can the dental team immensely help the dentist(s) of the practice, but more importantly they can provide the patient with better overall care and experience. Traditionally, the dental team has been comprised of dentists, dental hygienists, dental auxiliaries, and office managers. But with advancements and changes (hopefully for the better) in the healthcare, there are many more positions to consider these days. And as new dentists, it is our duty to be fully aware and involved in the implementation of some of these new possible team members. In many states EFDAs (expanded function dental auxiliaries) have been in the workforce for several years now with numbers of EFDAs and their duties increasing as time goes on. Newer additions include CDHCs and DTs. In nine states, last time I checked, CHDCs (community dental health coordinators) are currently employed, while DTs (dental therapists) are implanted in four states. I may know about these new positions, but I will admit that there is much that I don’t know and need to investigate more of. This should be in the thought process of all new dentists on an individual level. Not all dentists and dental practices are the same, so each dentist needs to decide what expanded roles his/her practice or clinic would benefit from. As with everything, there will always be new ideas, thus ways to practice dentistry and that includes new team members. Conversely, some things may fade away in time. We may look back someday and wonder how we ever did anything without some of these new positions. Or they may sound like good ideas on paper, but not work out as well as some hope in actuality. The bigger picture is that each one of us has to know and understand who all the potential players in our profession are and how they impact it, and hopefully for the better. We are not robots practicing dental procedures, we are dynamic, thinking beings in charge of the dental profession, so let’s do our due diligence and act like it… speaking of robots, we probably should all talk about them soon and their role in the team.