Julia Skidmore, DDS
It does no good to write about the Joplin, Mo., tornado that hit on May 22 without focusing on the volunteers and support we have received.
I recently toured the temporary schools and state-of-the-art educational environments that combine new technology and interdisciplinary teaching, all constructed in 55 days (it can take 21 days for me to get cases back from the lab!). The national focus has been on education, but the dental community is also rebuilding stronger than ever.
Dentists are now sharing offices, which has forced a streamline sharing of ideas. Yes, we still have our regular dental needs to meet; however, dentures flew away, faces were crushed, and dental labs were blown away, as were practices.
We couldn’t care for our community if it wasn’t been for the national, even international dental community. Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers, the fund-raisers through dental societies all over the nation, and the dental supply companies that were on-site the day after the storm.
After a disaster it is more apparent than ever how important the implementation of technology is in our practices. We needed fast turnaround (volunteers and government workers could be called and could leave the next day).
