The Explorer Winter 2018 Explorer Winter 2018 | Page 4

EDITOR’S CORNER
By Sonia Molina, DDS
Before I begin, I want to thank Dr. Neil
McLeod for his insight as editor for the
2017 publication cycle. I know I love
learning from accomplished dentists to
improve my own practice. I look
forward to sharing my experiences in
the hopes that it will help you, too.
I was LADS president in 2009, a
moment marked by the housing crisis.
Thousands of families lost homes, and
the news kept calling the crisis the worst
economic recession since the Great
Depression. At the time, I thought a lot
about how we, as dental professionals,
were just as vulnerable to financial
hardship as anyone else. How we, too,
could lose our life’s work overnight.
Dentistry is entrepreneurial–anyone
who runs their own practice will tell you
that. We clean teeth, balance the
budget, and market our services with
only the help of our employees. And
that doesn’t even include our family and
community commitments. Talk about
keeping busy! But what happens when
hardship strikes, and we are prevented
from running our practices? What will
happen to our employees and patients
that depend on us?
Californians endured some of the
largest and most frightening wildfires in
December. To help our dentists whose
lives have been affected by the fires, the
CDA Foundation created the Disaster
Relief Grant Program. The Disaster
Relief Grant awards up to $2,500 in
immediate and emergency supplies to
dentists and dental assistants who have
suffered loss. If you have been
personally affected by these fires or
know a colleague who has, please visit
or direct them to the California Dental
Association website for detailed
information about eligibility
requirements. If you can, please
consider donating money to the
program. Every dollar helps our
colleagues rebuild their lives.
However, there is no need to wait for
natural and manmade disasters to strike
to help our colleagues. Hardships come
into our lives uninvited, no matter who
we are and no matter how much (or
little) we plan for them. As
entrepreneurs, debilitating hardships
can jeopardize our practices. If
hardships prevent us from providing
services, how will our patients receive
care? Our patients will be forced to find
new dentists, even if they are in the
middle of treatment plans.
Now is the time to use the LADS
network to its full potential. I hate
seeing brilliant practices fade away
because of the unexpected. We can call
volunteers among ourselves who would
adopt shifts for one another when a
hardship strikes. The shift can be as
short as a day--or even a half day--a
week, enough to keep a colleague’s
practice afloat and her patients treated.
We need to care for our colleagues as
much as we care for our patients. I look
forward to building a stronger network
with you throughout 2018. As always,
please reach out to LADS if you have
any questions or concerns related to
building a strong dental practice.
¡Ánimo! 䡲
Los Angeles Dental Society Explorer