President's Message
Greetings ODAA Members and Happy Spring!
ODAA wants to THANK YOU for continuing to support the dental assisting profession in Oregon. We look forward to having you become more involved with our activities and events so we would love to hear what you think ODAA can do to better serve you as your professional organization.
Here we are entering into the summer season after a successful 2024 Oregon Dental Conference in April. ODAA had the pleasure of welcoming over 120 dental assisting students, faculty and guests at a luncheon to celebrate the profession of dental assisting.
ODAA also sponsored two guest speakers at ODC on Friday, April 5th; Tija Hunter presented Documentation and the Dental Assistant and Jen Hawley-Price presented Celebrating Dental Superheroes; Dental Assisting and infection Control Coordinators. The speakers provided engaging, interactive presentations that were well-attended and received. Plans for ODC 2025 have already begun so please let us know what type of events, courses, etc. you would like to see ODAA sponsor.
Because dental assisting rules, regulations, exams and certificates are continuously changing and improving, we want you to be informed. Please take a moment to look through the Oregon Board of Dentistry meeting agenda packets that are linked here to see how many changes are involving dental assistants and how those changes may affect your career.
Mark your calendars for October 18th and 19th. ODAA is planning to join the Oregon Association of Dental Labs (OADL) 2024 Conference where there will be some excellent CE courses. This is a perfect opportunity for dental lab techs and assistants to meet, learn and socialize together. OADL has had a very successful conference for many years. Be looking for more information to come.
ODAA is here for YOU and would like to provide answers to questions you may have, provide certificate pathway guidance and to hear what ideas you might have for dental assistants in Oregon. We value your opinion and are always open for discussion and feedback regarding the dental assisting profession. Please reach out to me any time with your questions and/or comments.
My Best,
Ginny Jorgensen, ODAA President
Greetings Oregon Dental Assistants!
It is my pleasure to have been appointed as the Oregon Dental Assistants Association President on September 21, 2023. To all the ODAA current members and future members, I am excited to be a part of the Oregon dental assistant movement that started last winter when Oregon legislative bills were introduced that would have eliminated required education and certificate examinations. These bills were presented as a method to address the dental assistant shortage that all states are experiencing. However, as many of you know, there have been studies and data collected that proves this move would not reverse the shortage issue but would only exacerbate it.
Oregon is a progressive state with many feasible pathways to certificates that allow us to provide needed dental care to our patients. This is the foundation and the building blocks of our profession. It was heard “loud and clear” that Oregon dental assistants and dentists alike did not want the professional standing of a dental assisting to be diminished or reduced to “just a job”.
Coming together we were able to prevent these bills from being passed through legislation in their original form. However, there may be more challenges ahead and we need YOU to be a part of the ODAA alliance so we are better prepared for what we may face in the future.
For example, there is a new exciting proposal for Oregon dental assistants to be first in the nation to provide local anesthetic to dental patients after additional education and training. We want you to be aware of this and many other new opportunities that might enhance your profession as a dental assistant.
In addition to legislative preparation and activity, the ODAA has a wide variety of opportunities to help grow our coalition and come together. With the 2023/24 ODAA board, and some new committees being established, we have plans for change and to acknowledge there are new ways of communicating. Now that “virtual” has become a way of life, it has allowed us to be connected no matter how far from each other that we live. It is an opportunity to connect our dental communities, to help promote dental assisting as a viable career and profession, to support dentistry, and provide safe dental care for all Oregon patients.
Let’s be part of the change together! Join us to become involved in the ODAA mission “to promote the careers of dental professionals which will enable the working individual to provide quality patient care.”
May best to you all for a great fall and winter season. We look forward to hearing from you!
Ginny Jorgensen, ODAA President