From Z to Alpha : Inspiring the Next Generations to Enter Dental Careers
By Dr . James Mancini , Ninth District Trustee
As the Ninth District Trustee of the Pennsylvania Dental Association , I am aware of the myriad issues that members have had trying to operate their offices , especially since the scourge of COVID-19 . One of the most frequent complaints that I have heard is the lack of dental staff . Many offices are looking for staff . Part time , full time , fill in – it doesn ’ t matter . I read the Facebook posts , see the newspaper ads , and hear from colleagues about this issue . As the Dental Director of Meadville Dental Center , we have also had to search for new members for our staff . This is a statewide issue and the problem is how to address it .
My daughter is a high school and middle school music educator , and she unknowingly helped me to get involved with a new avenue to try to solve this staffing problem . She called me one afternoon to talk about an upcoming career day to be held at her high school . As she was describing the event , she started to tease me about the fact that there were no dentists appearing at this event to promote my profession . When she was younger , she always asked me to come to school to talk about dentistry during her high school career days as a student . She told me that these events are organized by the high school guidance counselors each year to help students consider their future career paths . It dawned on me during this conversation that these guidance counselors could help to promote dental careers to school-aged children .
I discovered that school counselors have a professional organization , the Pennsylvania School Counselors Association ( PSCA ). Further research alerted me to the fact that this group holds an annual conference ( much like our PDA ). These conferences pull in counselors from across the state to a single event , and many organizations and professions have display tables at the conference . The display tables are full of information regarding a certain school , educational program , career pathways and other items that the counselors could use to help guide students . My reaction was that dentistry needs to be part of this process . With the approval of the Board of Trustees , and with assistance from PDA staff , we registered a PDA table for the PSCA Conference at the Kalahari resort in Mount Pocono . Armed with PDA supplied career related handouts , displays and giveaways ( dental swag !), myself , PDA President Dr . Cary Limberakis and Nicole Payonk from the Pennsylvania Coalition for Oral Health ( PCOH ), fielded questions and promoted our profession to hundreds of guidance counselors over the two days of this conference .
Attending this conference was eye opening , to say the least . There were many groups with display tables such as ours . Colleges from around the country , labor unions , professional associations , and other forms of educational organizations all had a presence in this conference hall . While all of these groups had pamphlets and one-page informational papers for the counselors , several had actual hands-on opportunities for the attendees to try . A sort of “ show and tell ” kind of opportunity . Directly across from our table was a small college display that also had a flight simulator . ( There is no truth to the rumor that the PDA president attempted to fly this simulator ). Another table had an electric welding tool to try . A third had many construction tools . As the attendees passed during these sessions , their bags were filled with papers and items they collected from these various displays .
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2024 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL 11