I still remember sitting in the back of the room, not sure what to think: it was hard to not be depressed after seeing how far ahead in ASDA spirit several other chapters were compared to us.  Rather than wallowing in sadness or shrugging it off, my rebellious spirit almost immediately stepped in.  My attitude immediately changed from one of vexation to one of determination: "Challenge accepted,” I said to myself. Equipped with a notebook full of ideas and inspiration from amazing people, I left NLC 2013 ready to get to work.

Fast forward two years, and with 20 more chapter members than were with me the first time, my feelings were very different.  I felt confident and ready to show Colorado ASDA off to the world! Sitting at the front of the room as the District 9 Trustee, I looked back at my clan of chapter members and felt so accomplished— not just because of how well our chapter had done since my first NLC, but because we were about to have yet another amazing conference!

My third NLC was much different from my first, and being on the other side of things gave me a very different perspective. My first year, I attended breakout sessions, introduced myself to those who inspired me and talked to national leaders about what it is like to be involved at that level. This year, I led two breakout sessions, tried to inspire as many people as I could, and encouraged everybody I saw to apply for a national ASDA position. All three years have been great experiences, but in completely different ways.

If I learned anything from attending NLC three years in a row, it is that you only get out of it what you put in—which is why NLC gets better each year. The benefits of networking become more and more valuable because my connections with other students have become more and more personal. The speakers become so much more motivating because I am looking for a different level of inspiration. The meetings become increasingly energizing because I am exceedingly excited to attend. Of course, this shouldn’t be surprising because that, in essence, is what ASDA is—everything you need! You take away whatever you put in and you put in whatever it is that you need. Opportunities are everywhere and it is up to us to take advantage of them. NLC is the perfect place to do that!

Two weeks into my second year of dental school I received an email notifying me that I had been selected to be fully funded to go to the National Leadership Conference in Chicago. I was excited to travel to a new city and experience the conference with my peers. Little did I know this new experience would also help me view my profession in a new way.

My first year of dental school I wasn’t as involved in ASDA as I could have been. I went to many of the lunch and learns and participated in weekend events when I had time. Up until this point I hadn’t really taken much of an interest in the power that ASDA and organized dentistry could provide me. After this conference I realized that it would be silly to continue on in my dental education without pursuing this essential side of dentistry as well.

Our dental schools do the job of teaching us what we will do as dentists as far as procedures and patient care goes. Unfortunately the time we spend in school is so limited that we barely touch on how to excel as a dentist in our profession. These characteristics are often times intangible and may have the potential to make or break us as dentists. This conference addressed many of these characteristics with sessions on practice management, ethics, finance, patient management, running a successful private practice, and many others. We got to hear from numerous talented speakers and new dentists on their transitions from school to practice and the qualities that make a good leader.

Even though I am in the deep dark cave of second year, at this conference I got a glimpse of the sweet fresh air that awaits us as dentists. This conference broadened my perspective and reminded me that dentistry is so much more than exams and lab practicals. Thankfully we will have the ability to be successful by treating our patients with tact and making smart decisions in our practice. While we may not have all of these skills right now as students, ASDA and the ADA give us the opportunities and connections to gain these skills and become successful dentists.

Looking back at this year’s ASDA National Leadership Conference, I noticed something that stood out like my first wax up on #8: First year dental students were the obvious minority at NLC. Initially, I thought that was to be expected since academic excellence is of the upmost importance at this stage in dental school. I believe the rigorous pre-dental journey has shaped the majority of us to feel uncomfortable receiving a grade lower than an A, and at the worst, a B. For this reason, the value of a leadership conference the weekend before a few tests is superseded by the fear and anxiety crafted well before dental school. There is an obvious financial barrier to a conference such as NLC and that will not be ignored here. For those who did not consider finances to be a barrier this year, my goal is to push you a little closer to attending next year. I like to do a cost-benefit analysis on many decisions in my life because it helps to paint situations a little more clearly:

THE COSTS:  Registration and airfare (hotel and food included in registration), and a weekend of study for tests the next week (potentially a letter grade lower on an exam).

THE BENEFITS: Eating lunch with the president of the ADA, gathering a pocket full of business cards from national speakers and leaders in the dental profession, building a network of future leaders around the country (adding as many people on Facebook as you possibly can), building relationships with vendors, and having a great time with peers who enjoy and realize the value of self improvement in their careers.

Now, the cost-benefit ratio seems great, and is probably pretty fair.  However, one could justify it still not being worth the price and sacrifice in grades the next week. But, if I told you that in 10 years you could successfully run a dental team thanks to Dr. Warnken, out-market your competition thanks to Dr. Salierno, and start a scratch practice while working for a DSO thanks to Dr. Meru, would you consider attending a conference that gave you those tools?. In today’s instant-gratification world, it’s hard to look too far ahead, but with crystal clear vision and future planning, you can see that the benefits more than outweigh the costs of this weekend in Chicago.

I challenge my classmates and every dental student in the country to assess their goals and perform a proper cost-benefit analysis. I challenge you to think about the number of patients in your life that are going to ask you about your grades. I challenge you to think about the number of word-of-mouth referrals you will get as a result of tactful communication and comprehensive patient care. These are trainable and learnable skills that NLC offers and they are yours for the taking.

As a first year student who attended NLC, I feel it is my responsibility to encourage other first year students not to wait. Don’t miss out on a relationship that could change the path of your life. Don’t miss the gems that will mold your leadership not only for the profession but for every interaction you make with another person. Mistakes will cost you more each year you wait, but being proactive and yearning for knowledge will significantly lessen the risks we face as dental professionals.

As a student of the Dental Medicine program of Colorado, I was lucky to have been chosen to attend the National ASDA Leadership Conference in Chicago. I had never even heard of ASDA before entering dental school, and was honestly apprehensive of the passion and excitement many showed for this organization. As an undergraduate, I was apart of the Biology and Chemistry club, but they were never the most exciting parts of my undergraduate career. I was really mostly excited to see Chicago, which was about to change.

Before attending, I had written a paper on the word “leadership” and what it meant to me; this put me in the running to be fully funded to Chicago NLC. I was then informed that my essay was chosen, and I was lucky enough to be fully funded. I was so ecstatic, but had no idea what to expect. With my anatomy exams the following week, I was worried that attending NLC would take away invaluable study time.

Nevertheless, I attended NLC and can truly say I regret nothing. I arrived at the gorgeous Hilton Chicago and I was in awe. I attended the sessions and it was so exciting to see so many dental students from so many places in one room. These people were like me, and all were hungry for knowledge of the career they are pursuing.

Sessions I attended included mostly post-grad options and ways to be smart financially while owning a business. While I still have a while until I have to worry about these things, it’s never too early to start having a plan. As a first year dental student, I think a lot of us lose sight of the reason why we’re here; many of our beginning classes have nothing to do with dentistry. It’s so easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day tests and studying that sometimes it becomes the question “why am I doing this”, rather than “I’m so excited I made the right career decision”.

NLC brought back the motivation I came into this semester with, fresh out of being accepted into dental school. I’ve heard many times that these conferences “aren’t for first years,” when ASDA NLC has so much for first year students. The great thing about this conference is that students of ALL CLASSES can take home information on study strategies, residencies, practices, budgeting, and so much more!

As if all of this information wasn’t good enough, I was able to attend  so many events to interact with other dental students from in and out of our district. Hearing that another student 2,000 miles away was going through the same worries and fears as me was comforting. I was also able to bond with my own classmates, reassuring each other that our missed study weekend was worth it.

Chicago NLC was one of the most fun, informational, and motivational trip I have ever attended.  I would recommend ANY dental student that has a desire to be successful to attend next year. I may have missed a weekend of studying (which ended up not mattering because I did great on my exams), but I gained a an endless amount of knowledge about dentistry and becoming a business owner.

Thank you ASDA!

My Healthy Smiles Experience I have worked with kids of all ages in different settings since I was a young teenager. I've coached volleyball, worked at the YMCA, baby sat, led youth groups, and worked as a camp counselor on several occasions. I am also one of four children in my family. But even with all my experiences being around and handling kids, I was still apprehensive, and nervous about going to Healthy Smiles.  If anyone else is feeling this way, I am here to tell you that everything will be okay!

Having done several prophies on adults, I felt comfortable about my abilities in dental hygiene, but this was different. I had no idea what to expect cleaning a child's teeth.  As I walked up to greet my very first peds patient, my mind was moving in a million different directions.

A brief synopsis of my thoughts during the first 10 minutes of that appointment:

What do I say when I get them?

They are so small!

What do I do when they ask me questions?

Is 30 kg a lot?

They need bitewings, how do I do that?

There isn’t a RINN instrument, how do I take a bitewing??

What chair am I in again?

Wait, I don’t have an assistant today… say whaaat?

After I had that internal battle and sat my first patient down in the chair, the only thing I could do was laugh at myself:  Here is this tiny human, sitting on a pillow because they are too short for the dental chair, chatting away with their high pitched voices.  They're telling me about their first day of school, their favorite color, what they did yesterday, what they ate for breakfast… totally composed and happy to be there.  All the while I am sitting beside them sweating bullets.

After asking some oral hygiene questions I applied disclosing solution and taught them how to brush their teeth.  I did the prophy, filled out their forms and note, got them checked by an attending, and off they went.

So simple!

The worst part about the prophy is the limited time frame and completing all of the notes/tabs/talking to the parent etc. The best part is the patient! Almost every single kid I had for a cleaning was great and unique in his or her own way.

A couple days of doing cleanings I got used to the atmosphere and felt more comfortable. I would ask my patients questions and then build my conversation off of their answers.

My favorite has to be the response of a 7 year old patient to what his favorite animal was. The answer…tiger shark, voiced in a way that made it seem like ‘duhhh, everyone’s favorite animal is a tiger shark!’ My initial thought was, "Perfect, sharks have a lot of teeth and have big mouths." I used it as my way of teaching him about his teeth, how to not lose his teeth like sharks do and how to keep them healthy and “sharp”.

I learned how to speak to different age groups. The young ones like fun and simple terms; “Sugar bugs”, “sugar bug neighborhoods are called plaque”, and the number two, “two times a day, two minutes, two sides of teeth, top teeth and bottom teeth”. I also learned how to be magic by guessing their favorite color solely by looking at their outfit. If they are wearing a lot of the same color...hint, hint. This worked around 10 times when I was there. Their shocked expression is priceless. Try it!

For the slightly older kids I would start asking more specific questions.   Do they know what cavities are? What causes them?  How many surfaces do teeth actually have? When they would answer two or three sides I would show them the sides they need to brush and the sides they can only reach when they floss.

Lastly, to the older ones I would say something like “the ladies won't like that…” when decay and cavities were brought up.

Every child has a completely different personality, you can't treat them all the same.

The day of my first full day of operator session I was again sweating profusely plus or minus some heart palpations and tunnel vision…. Just kidding. I was really nervous though.

I got there an hour early just to make sure I could calm my nerves because that day was a day of many firsts: first time extracting teeth (three of them!), my first IA block, my first crown (SCC) and my first time challenging a competency.  The only non-first was a restoration.... I had only ever done one before!

Once again, a thousand thoughts were spinning through my head that morning:

I haven't done an IA block since stab lab in January... and my first is going to be on an eight year old!?

IA entrance point is higher and more posterior, right? Yes, I looked it up.

27 long is what we still use. I researched that too, so why am I so apprehensive?

The kid is small…I have already calculated the max dose of 2% Lido 1:100 epi for a 46kg kid but is that right?

How do I extract a tooth? What do I do?  What if it breaks in half? What if the kid swallows it? Where are the Magill forceps?

Wait what, they need an interpreter?

I was nervous to say the least. But guess what? I survived and more importantly so did my patients.

Oh, and nitrous helps, trust me!

Remain confident, they are like little blood hounds. They are already scared; they are already on high alert, if you are nervous they can sense it I swear. It’s going to increase their anxiety and just make the appointment worse.

Another word of advice: kids wiggle.  There isn't anything you can do about it, so be prepared. If you were 7 years old and was told to lay down with your mouth open for an while your face "falls asleep," with a lot of strange noises you'd be wiggling, too.  Mouth props are used 100% of the time in an operative session, and the faster you make it through the appointment, the better.

Again, nitrous helps.  A lot.

For the most part things will go great, but just like in normal clinic things do always go as planned. My worst experience at Healthy Smiles involved a mother who refused nitrous for her 8 year old child. He was also the same patient I was going to be doing my first IA block on.  The tooth I was working on was banded for a space maintainer and the kid had more saliva than anyone I've ever seen. While delivering the IA block, the harpoon popped out of the rubber plunger when I aspirated, scaring the kid. My eyes doubled in size and I about had a heart attack.  Whatever confidence I had was gone. I removed the syringe and needle and attempted to redo the IA block on an anxious kid without any nitrous in a pool of saliva.  In the end, I successfully completed the restoration (my second ever!) and learned how to manage the unexpected.

During your first time few times working on pediatric patients, it is okay to be nervous. You will be nervous! Just don’t show it. Sometimes things will go great and sometimes things will not go according to plan.

Overall, my experience at Healthy Smiles was great. It takes a couple days to learn all of their rules and the different ways they do things.  It takes a week to be at least semi-competent in note taking and time management. It takes until the very last day until you think you kind of know what you're doing. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, I did many times.

Learn to love working with the kids! They are the most hilarious, brutally honest, imaginative and innocent people we will ever have the opportunity to work with. You will think to yourselves many times, this is a person??  How?  They are so small! Make jokes and have fun, but make sure they also understand the importance as to why they are there and the importance of what you are doing. Think tiger sharks and teeth!

You will be exhausted at the end of each day and borderline sleep-walking at the end of the rotation, but the three weeks go by so fast!

I hope you have a great experience like I did at Healthy Smiles.

As a first year dental student, I certainly didn’t start out with a very firm grasp on what ASDA was and how it could help me to become a more informed and capable dentist. However, as I’ve progressed through my first year I have become more involved in ASDA and learned what a valuable asset it can be to us as dental students. This February, I had the privilege of being sent to Boston for the ASDA Annual Session. This trip was not only an extremely fun adventure; it was also HUGE in helping me to understand the scope of the organization. Upon returning from the ASDA session I felt like I had to share this experience with everyone! So here it is, the top 5 reasons that every ASDA member should put attending annual session on their dental school bucket list!

1. Networking with dental students from every other school in the country.

Besides making lots of friends, the great thing about meeting students from all over the country is that you tap into a powerhouse of opportunity and ideas. I’ve met upperclassmen that are pumped about service and outreach, as well as students that have recently survived what I’m trying to prepare for. Without fail, these students will have great ideas and experience to share.

You will meet students that seem to be living your same life while in another state. They will have great tips and experience to offer that will enrich your school experience. Whether you’re preparing for boards, or drilling your first preps it will be impossible to come away without great ideas.

One student I met was extremely excited about a bone marrow cheek swab drive she had recently organized to benefit a fellow student. This was interesting, but I didn’t fully comprehend the value in our meeting until several months later, when one of our own classmates was in need of the same help. All it took was one quick message, and we had an enthusiastic and experienced ally joined to our cause.

2. Discussion of issues affecting dentistry HERE and NOW.

We often hear about municipal water fluoridation debates or health-care reform measures, but as a dental student it’s easy to feel far removed from these issues, which are incredibly important to the future of our profession.

As a component of organized dentistry, a fundamental part of ASDA involvement is discussion of these issues with the end goal of establishing policy.Through this process we are able to fulfill our mission of pursuing resolutions which will be best for our profession and for our country’s oral health in the long term. Annual session is where a lot of this policy making begins. All attendees are invited to bring forward resolutions (essentially a legislative policy proposal) to be discussed and later voted upon. If passed, your resolution will be made official policy of one of the most well represented professional organizations in the country.

In addition to the policy making, annual session also offers a number of breakout sessions that cast light on a lot of today’s hot issues. Personally, I was able to attend one called “The State of Dentistry”, which discussed current economic trends & projections, specifically in the context of the ACA. What I learned was extremely pertinent to my future as a dentist and potential business owner. Such experiences are really what ASDA participation is all about.

3. Participation in national & district leadership elections.

This process is not just informative, it's simply one of the most fun things you will do at annual session. We are part of a district (District 9) that includes five different chapters (schools). We meet with another district (District 8) for a total of ten chapters present. (This is called a Caucus, but don’t get hung up on the terms right now).

Each school, or chapter, submits questions that will be asked individually to each candidate for the following positions:

National President

Speaker of the House

District Trustee

Our group is known for making this process fun, and a little irreverent! Odd challenges, word association, and serious questions all mesh into a wonderful, chaotic and loud demonstration. Come prepared with intelligent questions, but also your most awkward and embarrassing suggestions, this day will not disappoint!

4. Education opportunities not available in dental school.

The speakers that come to any national ASDA meeting are top notch. You will have a chance to hear from people like:

Neil Pasricha - New York Times bestselling author

Roger Crawford - Hall of Fame Division I athlete

Maxine Feinberg – President of the ADA

Chris Salierno - Nationally-recognized author and lecturer

Adam Braun - New York Times bestselling author

These presenters take your mind out of dental school and help you view your career with a long-term perspective. The information I gather in these meetings is always something I know will be applied in my future. This long-term perspective helps me feel motivated and energized every time.

5. AWESOME social events!

ASDA has so much to offer in regards to professional development and education, but rest assured, annual session is not just one long weekend of board meetings.

There are essentially two types of social events that you will enjoy at session, those that are district specific  and those that are organized by national ASDA. Our district trustees did a spectacular job of organizing luxurious dinners and/or open bars for us to enjoy almost every night. These events are a blast not only because they were delicious and elegant (one night we had a seafood buffet and open bar right on the water!), but they offer a more intimate atmosphere. It is thanks to these events that I was able to get to know so many other students from our local district.

The national events are awesome because they are super elaborate and all of the dental schools are represented at them. These events included the Gold Crowns, which honor chapters that did outstanding work over the last year (cough, cough, Colorado), and the Presidents Gala, which is essentially a really, really awesome party and the bittersweet conclusion of session.

The social aspect of session was not something that I expected, but it is definitely one of the most memorable highlights. I guarantee that you will catch ASDA fever after experiencing what we all experienced this year in Boston!

So, how do I get to Annual Session? You ask... Well, there are two ways. You can fund yourself, or you can be sponsored by the chapter.

The Colorado ASDA chapter will choose students to sponsor in a variety of ways. There may be an essay contest, or the attendee may be determined based on their ASDA Diamonds. The Colorado ASDA chapter awards “Diamonds” for participation in local events, each time you attend an activity, you will be awarded more diamonds. You can also earn diamonds when you write for our chapter blog, “The Colorado Quickset” or the new letter, “The CEJ”.

Often, being considered for Annual Session is as simple as showing up to all the ASDAwesome events held by our chapter all semester long. One thing many students will say, is that any way you get to Annual Session, it will be worth it! So do everything you can to be at ASDA’s annual session next year!

I have never been the type of person to be on student government or run for positions that required any sort of political understanding. Needless to say my knowledge about what we would be doing at National Lobby Day in Washington D.C. was at a minimum. I was chosen to go and figured that I would take more of a backseat approach, learning what it was like to be involved with ASDA at the national level while watching the experts do the lobbying, but I would do much more than that.

Monday was our first day in D.C., and it was spent entirely at the hotel. We had lectures, meetings, and breakout sessions that were all meant to be informative and help us in our lobbying efforts the next day. The two specific bills that we would be lobbying for were the H.R. 539: Dental Health Act and the H.R. 649: Student Loan Refinancing Act. H.R. 539 would allow programs like the Mission of Mercy (MOM) and Give Kids a Smile access to readily available funds ($15 million) from the CDC that they were previously not able to apply for. H.R. 649 would allow students to refinance their loans in the future if the federal student loan interest rate were to dip below what they had previously borrowed it for.

The morning was a mix of presentations on the details of both of these bills, what to focus on when speaking to legislators, and some presentations by different sponsors. We broke for lunch, where I had the opportunity to sit and eat with students from the University of New York at Buffalo along with the president of the ADA, Dr. Feinberg. Our afternoon session consisted of more presentations, mock meetings with legislators, and concluded with speeches by two dentists (now state representatives) from Texas. With that we broke for the day and were on our own. We met briefly as a group to discuss our tactics when meeting with legislators the following day, and then we were off to dinner.

The next day was an early one, with the buses scheduled to leave at 7:15am and our first meeting at 8:30. We had a busy day planned with seven meetings in all, the last one coming at three in the afternoon. Our first meeting was with Cory Gardner’s office, a senator from Colorado. We spoke with his aid for a bit about the two bills that we were advocating for. He was very receptive to what we had to say and the meeting was more relaxed than I expected, which reminded me of most of my dental school interviews; nervous at first, but merely conversational once I had settled in. We were lucky enough to have Cory Gardner stop in for a few minutes and hear what we had to say, even telling us about his experiences with COMOM. The first meeting of the day went really well, and we were off to a good start in our lobbying efforts.

Since we felt that having all seven of us in each meeting was a bit of overkill, we decided to approach the rest of the meetings as smaller groups, mostly consisting of three or four people. Another reason for this approach was that we were constantly walking the whole day, from house to the senate, senate to the house: it was a workout to say the least. Splitting into groups allowed us more time between meetings to make sure we were not late. We had six meetings scheduled for the rest of the day: a senator from Colorado, two senators from New Mexico, and three representatives from Colorado. Of these six remaining meetings, five of them went really well while one seemed like a complete disaster. All in all it seemed to be a pretty successful day that ended around 3:30 and with us heading straight to the airport from the senate building, back on a plane to Denver a mere 52 hours after we had arrived.

If you’ve read this far and are thinking to yourself, “this sounds like too much work, I’d want to at least do some exploring of D.C.”, you probably aren’t friends with me on ‘Snapchat’. The Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, and the National Museum of American History: these were just a few of the sites we got to see in our limited time in Washington. If you do know me personally then you probably saw most of these as low quality pictures from around D.C., showing just how much fun I got to have along with how much I learned while at National Lobby Day. This is something I hope to convey to you if you haven’t been involved much with ASDA, and it doesn’t have to be at the national level, nor a huge commitment. I encourage you to get involved in local events because they are a great networking experience, informative, and fun! All I know is that I would not have done it any differently and I’m so thankful to have been able to go.

Being a great leader is something that each of us strives for.  We all have a little bit of leader in us somewhere... we've always been driven for success, and we all hope to be our own bosses someday.  We're all pretty responsible -- I mean, we had to be to get into dental school, right? -- but I think I'd be speaking for many of us if I said that the idea of being a great leader is pretty darn intimidating.

This weekend, Colorado ASDA had the honor of hosting Dr. David Rice, founder of IgniteDDS, at our first annual Leadership Workshop.  Dr. Rice has been an immensely popular speaker at past ASDA events, such as regional meetings and the Annual Session, and we were fortunate enough to have him speak to us here, on our very own campus!

IgniteDDS is an organization that works to get people really fired up about dentistry, whether they're patients, students, or dental professionals.  As this workshop was tailored toward dental students and pre-dents, Dr. Rice focused on teaching us to be successful, and how we can really jump-start our careers in dentistry.  Prior to the event, each of us took a DiSC behavioral assessment, the results of which we discussed during the workshop.  Essentially, the DiSC assessment categorizes people into one of four different personality types: Domint, Influential, Steady, and Conscientious.  The theory behind the DiSC is that each of us has one of these personalities, which majorly affects our relationships and interactions with other people.  Dr. Rice described each of these personalities and how they relate to professionalism in dentistry.  In order to be successful in your business, you must build a solid rapport with many different types of people.  In order to do so, you must first know how to work with a range of personalities, and get each type of person to trust and feel comfortable with you.  Staffing a variety of personality types is a great way to maximize the likelihood that your patients will feel at ease being treated in your dental office.  Dr. Rice mentioned many times that treating others as you wish to be treated may have worked in elementary school, but treating others as they wish to be treated is what will get you far in the professional world.  Each patient brings their unique personality into your practice, and with that comes a challenge. Being able to read your patients and work with them on a level in which they feel understood and appreciated will get you far in your practice.

If you are interested in learning more about IgniteDDS or Dr. David Rice, please check out their website, and "like" them on Facebook.  If you'd like to know the specifics of the DiSC personalities, and are interested in finding out where you lie on the spectrum, click here.