PADPAC Volunteer Spotlight - Dr . Linda Himmelberger
It was a chaotic and difficult time , fraught with uncertainty , misinformation , and stress . The profession was under attack ; OSHA was conducting inspections in dental offices , sometimes levying tens of thousands of dollars in fines for violations . What I thought I knew from dental school about how to keep myself and my patients safe was turned upside down … and I didn ’ t think that the ADA was doing enough to address the crisis ! ( Turns out I was wrong – but I wasn ’ t aware of the depth and breadth of ADA ’ s involvement because I wasn ’ t “ tuned in .” That was about to change .)
Amid this crisis , I happened to attend a meeting of my local chapter , the Dental Society of Chester County and Delaware County . I marched over to the president and expressed to him my angst that the ADA was not doing enough to protect us and inform us . He looked me right in the eyes and said “ YOU are the dental society ! If you don ’ t like what is happening , then get involved and work to make it happen !” I was stunned ; he was right . I realized at that moment that I needed to be involved , to help to make things happen , rather than sitting on the sidelines and waiting on someone else to make it happen . To that point , I had not been involved with organized dentistry , other than attending the dinner / CE meetings five times a year . I had joined because the three dentists with whom I was associated had insisted that I join because it was the right thing to do . And , in fact , my first meeting started out inauspiciously when one of the long-time leaders ( a past PDA president ) approached me at registration and kindly and graciously told me that the meeting was for dentists only … hygienists were not invited ! Truthfully , I was more than a little taken aback , but his mistake was very common at the time – less than one half of one percent of all dentists were women , so I was pretty much a unicorn . To his credit , he apologized for his mistake and became someone who encouraged me to pursue opportunities within the organization .
My local dental society and its leaders were actively involved in lobbying for important legislation and initiatives . We lobbied Harrisburg to continue to provide financial support to each of the Pennsylvania dental schools ; we pushed back against efforts by one of the Philadelphia dental schools to establish clinics in areas that were already being served by dentists in private practice . And in 2001 , when our members were having difficulty hiring dental hygienists ,
my local dental society worked with Harcum College and the University of Pennsylvania to found the Dr . Abram & Goldie Cohen Dental Programs , a dental hygiene program which continues to this day . Our society was instrumental in raising tens of thousands of dollars to support the clinic . During this time , I was becoming more involved by serving on committees and immersing myself in the issues that were facing the profession , including insurance practices that interfered with the doctor patient relationship , cumbersome regulations and misguided legislation initiatives . It was clear that the lobbying efforts by countless members and PADPAC dollars given to fund those efforts played a key role in protecting our profession and our practices . Many times , the legislation that we prevented from becoming law was as important as the laws whose passage we fought for . It also became clear that the PDA and ADA were working tirelessly to preserve and protect our profession so that all dentists could succeed .
I rose through the ranks in my local society , eventually becoming president . I was also privileged in 1994 to be appointed to the Pennsylvania State Board of Dentistry ( SBOD ), the first female dentist to serve on the board . We promulgated regulations defining the duties and educational
I realized at that moment that I needed to be involved , to help to make things happen , rather than sitting on the sidelines and waiting on someone else to make it happen .”
requirements for Expanded Function Dental Assistants ( EFDAs ). We also developed the regulations for the newly enacted legislation requiring continuing education for licensure renewal and regulations for administering general anesthesia and sedation in the dental office . A PDA representative was present at each of our meetings to monitor our activities and provide input and expertise as the regulations were being developed .
I continued to be involved in my local and district dental societies . Because of restrictions imposed by the Pennsylvania Department of State ( which oversees the activities of the SBOD ), I was not allowed to
22 NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2022 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL