By Gail Siminovsky, CAE - ALD Executive Director

I hope you are all safe and well. For me and my family, we are well and leaning on one another with love and support. I became a new grandma on January 3 with the arrival of my grandson, so all is good when we can celebrate life. I approach every day with a positive outlook. My day starts very early with quiet thinking about how I can spread joy and be helpful to you and the ALD community. Lifting each other up in ways that help our patients and help each other is ALD’s focus for 2021. I invite you to JOIN US as we all experience new ways to communicate, learn, live, care, and spread love in our world.

By Ed Kusek, DDS

What a year to forget! 2020 started with hope and enthusiasm. The ALD had a successful annual meeting in Dallas during 2019. Financially, we seemed to get back on track from a down year’s annual meeting in 2018. We all heard of some virus in China and thought, aww, nothing to worry about. Then March came around and everything we took for granted was completely shaken. Many closed their practices to figure out how, if, and when we could treat patients again. The ALD annual meeting needed to be canceled. Financially, how was this going to affect the Academy and more specifically, our practices?

By Aric Sven and Moriah Sven

By Aric Sven and Moriah Sven

By Ed Kusek, DDS, ALD President

As we enter a New Year, we have hope that the vaccine will allow us by next summer to be close to our past normal.

• What are the primary COVID-19 factors that put patients and dental health care providers at risk?

• What is the proper way to equip dental offices to mitigate the associated risk factors?

By Vanessa Freitas, DDS, ALD Laser Safety Committee Chair

Laser devices should always be handled with care. Depending on the laser’s potential to cause injury to the eyes or skin followed by direct exposure to the beam and/or secondary hazards, the lasers are divided into hazard classes (Class I, II, III and IV).

Mary Lynn Smith, RDH

Our member spotlight this month is Mary Lynn Smith, RDH who has been an active member of ALD since 2004. Her journey with lasers started with a bit of skepticism, but after attending an ALD annual conference and learning of the many benefits of laser use, she hasn't looked back since! Mary Lynn participates in several ALD committees, including Auxiliary, Membership and Certification. You may contact Mary Lynn at [email protected].

By Gail Siminovsky, CAE, ALD Executive Director

October was Photobiomodulation month for the Academy of Laser Dentistry. The Symposium brought together over 140 attendees, 3 industry partners and 8 PBM experts to share the excitement and pioneering leadership in dentistry. New uses of light therapy to treat pain, providing relief for patients suffering from chronic pain, oral mucositis and other chemotherapy side effects, brain trauma, and varieties of facial pain were presented.

By Kristin Pristavec-Hunter, RDH, BS

Starting a new job can be intimidating on its own, but as a contract hygienist "filling-in" is like the first day, every day. With COVID, this makes that first-day experience more worrisome. Safety protocols vary between each office, you never know what to expect. Some offices have gone bare bones and even ask that the clinician bring their own PPE while others have made a big effort in upgrading practice systems and give you every piece of PPE you could imagine.

By Laurene K. Duke, DDS

Uncertainty has been the mantra for me during these COVID times. I willingly shut my practice as the California governor asked us all to do in March. It seemed to be for only a few weeks. I usually take a vacation of 6-8 weeks per year and closing for a few weeks was not an issue for me. Since the stay at home order was in place, I did not travel (my planned trip was cancelled) and I could take this time to revamp a few protocols for aerosols and get back to seeing patients. WOW!! This was not the case as we all know. I did not even suggest my staff go on unemployment for the first few weeks, thinking it would be a short shut down and I could manage the payroll. So many unforeseen circumstances have led to these uncertain COVID times.

By Marina Polonsky DDS, MSc Laser Dentistry, MALD, MWCLI

 

How many of us have heard the claims from the manufacturers stating, “Buy our laser and you won’t need to use local anesthesia again for your restorative procedures”? And how many of us bought into these claims, but were then disappointed when a patient stopped the cavity preparation, requesting that conventional anesthesia be administered, due to pain? If the claim of ‘laser analgesia’ was the main reason for such a big investment, how disappointing it is to now have such a valuable piece of equipment sitting idle in the corner of your operatory?

 

By Nick Clausen, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

 

When utilizing lasers, safety is always paramount. Many times, safety attention only goes towards things we immediately see or may feel. Because of this, sometimes laser plume hazards are not discussed as much.However, due to the recent pandemic, this topic has become top of mind for the dental patient. As a matter fact, Fortune Management asked all of their 1,000 doctors to survey their patients on what was most important during the pandemic and safety was No. 1 and same-day dentistry or doing as much as you can in a single visit, was No. 2 of things patients wanted most from their dentist.