In Search of a Job Description for Editor
By Judith McFadden , DMD , Editor Emerita
When I was appointed Editor of the Pennsylvania Dental Journal , I wondered , exactly , what my new volunteer “ job ” entailed .
There was no manual , no outline of duties , no job description . I didn ’ t worry about being able to write . Undergraduate and graduate studies in language and literature had necessitated years of reading and writing . Even more importantly , I had been taught the fundamentals of grammar in grade school and high school . The good Sisters of Providence had strictly enforced the rules of writing . I still remember the complex patterns
outlined on blackboards , diagrammed sentences with oblique lines , lines parallel to the main subject / verb line … all logical visuals that demystified the structures of the written word . Education did not make writing easy . It never is . Education gave me the tools to frame thoughts correctly and the ability to convey those thoughts with some degree of accuracy .
I wasn ’ t worried about dangling participles or how to use the past perfect tense . My dilemma was what to write . I had served on my local component in Philadelphia and then , as Editor , I attended the Board of Trustees meetings which gave me further insight into the issues confronting the
profession . I quickly learned that there would be plenty of material for me to use in my editorials . I groused about governmental regulations , third-party payers , and the sniveling “ fake news ” and half-truths that the media broadcast about dentistry . I remember a couple of “ 60 Minute ” reports that really inspired my writing .
I also wrote about my gratitude . Gratitude that I traced back to a remark I overheard when I was a child and my father and I were visiting an older friend and mentor of my dad . His friend was a dentist and I remember he said that “ dentistry has been good to me .” I still see and remember that moment like an old slide in a projector . I was baffled .
1955 1960 1965
1954
Philadelphia joined the ranks of fluoridated cities , becoming at the time the largest city in the world to provide fluoridated water .
DEC
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1958
The organization has a name change from the Pennsylvania State Dental Society to the Pennsylvania Dental Association .
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1961
Pennsylvania hosts the American Dental Association ’ s 102 nd Annual Session , held in Philadelphia .
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1964
PDA creates the Pennsylvania Dental Service Corporation ( later known as Delta Dental ), an independent body having no legal relationship to PDA . This was to create a mechanism for providing prepaid dental care for organized groups .
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24 MARCH / APRIL 2018 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL