Dental assistants reach out through SODA
Members of the Student Organization for Dental Assistants provide oral health instruction in outreach programs throughout the Illinois Valley area, sponsor seminars and support credentialling for dental assistants.
Officers for 1998-99 are Cassidy Burwell, president; Susan Studnicki, vice president; Christie Ajster, secretary; and Kimberlee Messino, treasurer. Instructor Pat Pearson advises the group.
Members attended the Illinois Dental Assistants Session Sept. 12 and are planning to attend the Chicago Midwinter Dental Convention in February. Organized in 1996, the local group is affiliated with the American Dental Assistants Association.
Also in February, Children’s Dental Health Month, members will provide oral hygiene education in elementary schools. They will also provide oral hygiene education for WIC mothers in LaSalle and Bureau County. Education on the dangers of smokeless tobacco will be an on campus project.
Pearson said providing public service in the form of dental health education is one of the groups’ objectives. Other goals are to advance the practice of dental assisting by supporting and encouraging formal education and credentialling of dental assistants.
The group also plans to host a quiz bowl in late April for dental assisting students from around the state in preparation for the Dental Assisting National Board Exam which is in June.
Sept. 17, 1998 the Apache