Earnestly Anna

Dental Office Life

Attributes Of A Good Dental Assistant

Every position plays a vital role in the dental office. That’s the absolute truth. But I’ve always felt like Dental Assistants are the glue that hold the whole place together. If you’re a Hygienist or you work at the front desk, your job is pretty departmentalized. But if you’re an Assistant, you’re kind of all […]

Graves Disease

Graves Disease and Anxiety

It’s been my experience that Graves Disease and Anxiety go hand in hand. Most doctors don’t prepare us for this or even acknowledge it. It’s the old, ‘Your levels are normal so Graves can’t be causing it’ thing. That always confuses me. They tell us that even when we get our levels under control or […]

NOT Weight Watching

Recipes

My Favorite Coconut Cake

I love to bake! It’s so satisfying to create something from scratch. You start off with a bunch of ingredients and some empty bowls and suddenly you have something delicious that makes people smile! This particular recipe is my favorite coconut cake! Coconut is one of those things that people either love or hate. I […]

Recipes

Weight Watching

Anna’s Undressed Arugala Salad

I’ve mentioned before that when I was first diagnosed with Graves, I was traumatized by everything I learned about gluten and autoimmune disease. I also became more aware of eating real food and switched to organic whenever possible. I still do the real, organic food thing. But since my three year experiment did not prove […]

Dental Office Life

What Do Dental Patients Really Care About?

It seems like we’re always looking for ways to bring in new patients to keep our practice growing and healthy. But it’s just as important to make sure we’re keeping the patients that we already have. Sometimes they just disappear with no explanations and no good-bye. I always wonder what makes them just leave like […]

Dental Office Life

What Sets Weave Apart From Other Patient Communication Systems

If you work in the dental field, you know there are a lot of patient communication systems out there. For the most part, they all do the same thing; automate appointment reminders and make it easier to communicate with our patients. I have experience using Solutionreach, Demandforce, and Revenuewell. All good systems. Not a stinker […]

Graves Disease

Graves Disease And Stress

Autoimmune Disease occurs when our immune system produces antibodies that attack our body’s own tissue. It’s not always clear what causes the immune system to misfire. But there does seem to be a direct correlation between Graves Disease and stress. When I look back over the five or so years prior to noticing symptoms of […]

Graves Disease

How I’m Coping With Perimenopause And Graves Disease

For my fellow Gravesters that are of a certain age, do you find it hard to decipher whether what you’re feeling is related to Perimenopause or Graves Disease? I’ll be 48 this year. Overall I’ve been feeling pretty good since my thyroidectomy. Except for random spells of night sweats, insomnia, mood swings, bloating and periods […]

Dental Office Life

How I Feel About Morning Huddles

Someone recently asked me how I feel about morning huddles. They’re a hot topic and I know a lot of offices spend a lot of time trying to perfect them. I’ve worked in offices where morning huddles were super involved. We’d gather in one of the ops or around a table in a consultation room […]

Graves Disease

Thyroid Eye Disease

Things I’ve Learned About Graves Disease

I think one of the most frustrating things about Graves, is that our lab results hardly ever match the way we feel. We’ve all had our doctor tell us that everything is ‘within normal range’ when, of course we’re feeling anything but normal. I think this was my first clue that Graves wasn’t only affecting […]

Dental Office Life

My Two Least Favorite Patient Release Scenarios

I’m sure every dental office has a set system in place for releasing patients. I currently manage a small office, and am the only person at our front desk. Even though we’re small, we still have our busy days with full schedules and double Hygiene going. My system is pretty simple though. I ask everyone […]

Cruisin

How Cruising Changed My Life

In 1994 I booked my very first cruise on the Carnival Mardi Gras. I was 22 years old and traveling with three of my girlfriends. This was an exciting time for me! I was completely single, loving my job as a Dental Assistant, and happy to still be living at home rent free. Of the […]

Graves Disease

Graves Rage And Other Mood Swings

For most of my life, I think people would have described me as kind, caring and annoyingly cheerful. I’ve been given nicknames like Snow White and Mary Poppins, and I always felt like those were pretty accurate comparisons. But, thanks to graves rage and other mood swings, I know that people’s opinions of me changed. […]

Dental Office Life

Is There Tension Between Your Hygienists and Assistants?

Is there tension between your Hygienists and Assistants? Even if you haven’t noticed it, it’s probably still there. It’s not the usual situation where sometimes people just don’t get along. There’s something specific between Hygienists and Assistants that just causes a lot of friction. If you’re wondering what it is, I can tell you because […]

Thyroid Eye Disease

I Have Thyroid Eye Disease

So last June (June 2017) I had my thyroid removed. One doctor told me it would be at least a year before I’d feel normal again. Another said that I might have to get used to a ‘new normal’. Have you heard of this? This ‘new normal’. I’m not a fan. But that’s a story […]

Dental Office Life

What To Do When Your Boss Hires A Consultant

  So, your boss has decided to hire a Dental Consultant.  He tells you that he just wants to ‘tweek’ a few systems in the office; not sign on for a whole office makeover.  But you know the truth.  Consultants aren’t ‘tweekers’.  Once they get their hands on an office, it’s all or nothing and […]

Dental Office Life

What To Do When You’re Bored With Your Dental Job

I hate to tell you this but, bored happens.  It doesn’t matter if you love what you do and where you do it, the day to day of any job will only change so much.  And if you work in a dental office then you already know that your choices for growth are pretty limited. […]

Dental Office Life

How to Switch from Dental Assistant to Dental Front Desk

So you’ve mastered the art of Dental Assisting and now you want to move to the front desk.  Good for you!  Making the switch can be scary but don’t let that stop you.  Here are my tips on moving from back to front without stressing yourself out. Focus on what you do know instead of […]

Graves Disease

Thyroid Eye Disease

When I Was Told That I Have Graves Disease

I didn’t know what an autoimmune disease was until I was told that I have Graves Disease.  I didn’t know a body could get so confused that it would start attacking perfectly good organs. A few years ago I was feeling really crummy.  I was sweating a lot.  A LOT.  My heart raced for no […]