Fall is in full swing, and we are gearing up for winter. We hope everyone fared well with our unseasonal tropical storm Eta. The record breaking high water wreaked havoc on many within Pinellas County, and we hope you and your families are safe and well. Eta also forced us to reschedule our joint meeting with Upper PCDA; but fortunately, we have rescheduled that for December 9th at the Hilton in Carillon Park.

Help Feed Those in Need for the St. Pete Free Clinic! UPCDA and PCDA will collect non-perishable food items during the Joint Meeting that will benefit the St. Pete Free Clinic's #HungerFreeStPete food drive.

Our next PCDA meeting is December 2nd at The Club at TI. Please be sure to bring an unwrapped toy to our Dec 2nd meeting. We will be collecting donations for Toys for Tots. This season will be extremely hard for many families struggling with the ongoing pandemic.

Looking forward to seeing many of you in December. Wishing everyone a safe and healthy Thanksgiving.

Cheers,

Kristie Johnson, DMD

President of PCDA   

Please remember to bring an unwrapped toy for the annual Toys for Tots drive for our meeting on December 2nd at The Club at TI!

Help Feed Those in Need for the St. Pete Free Clinic!

UPCDA and PCDA will collect non-perishable food items during the Joint Meeting that will benefit the St. Pete Free Clinic's #HungerFreeStPete food drive.

Non-Perishable or Hygiene Items Accepted:

When: Wednesday, December 2, 6:00pm Social – 7:00pm Business & Lecture

Where: The Club at TI, 400 Treasure Island Causeway, Treasure Island

Topic & Speaker: The Best of Everything, Dr. Michael Dorociak

Program Description: A fast-paced course designed for the general practitioner encompassing all areas of dentistry. Come learn real world tips from Dr. Michael R. Dorociak, a practicing clinician who focuses on the best materials, devices, and techniques in dentistry. As a Project Director and Chairman of the Board for Gordon J. Christensen Clinicians Report, Dr. Dorociak will present the latest research and cutting-edge information in a practical, entertaining, and highly useful format. With the leadership of Dr. Gordon Christensen, Clinicians Report is the original and only independent dental product testing organization.

Take home practice management, restorative and oral surgery pearls - all of this and many more highly relevant topics in all areas of dentistry! This course is designed for those who operate in the trenches on a routine basis. You will come away with an appreciation of what works and what is best for your practice. Come and enjoy the hottest topics in dentistry. The objective is simple: Learn today and use tomorrow!

Course Objectives

RSVP: Final RSVP needs to be received by November 27, 2020.

Submit your RSVP any dietary restrictions you may have to smilepinellas@gmail.com.

The Pinellas, Upper Pinellas and Hillsborough County Dental Associations have teamed up to provide additional added value and benefit to your membership! This year, due to ever-changing circumstances, each one of our affiliates will live-stream their lectures in addition to the regularly scheduled in-person general membership meeting. Members in all three affiliates will have access to 15 virtual CE webinars! Pre-registration is required prior to each virtual meeting.

Post webinar, a CEU Certificate will be emailed to you by your affiliate and the WCDDA will upload the course attendance into CE Broker for you.

If you are interested in presenting or speaking to provide CE to your PCDA colleagues at future meetings - please let us know! Submit your resume or speaking portfolio to smilepinellas@gmail.com by April 30th of each year.

The PCDA would like to welcome new member, Dr. Rebecca Pikos to the association - Welcome!

Registration for the 2021 Dentists' Day on the Hill (DDOH) is now open! DDOH will take place on Tuesday, March 16 with a legislative briefing on Monday, March 15 at 6:00 p.m. at the Hotel Duval.

Legislative Briefing - NEW LOCATION and DINNER!

The legislative briefing will begin at 6:00 p.m. with dinner and entertainment to immediately follow at Hotel Duval. Please be sure to RSVP to both if you plan on attending the briefing ​AND the dinner.

A room block has been reserved at the Hotel Duval. To book your room, please call 850.224.6000 and mention ​the "Florida Dentists' Day on the Hill," or click here and select March 15-16 as the dates of your stay. Rooms are $219 a night and are limited - reserve yours today!

Questions? Contact Alexandra Abboud at aabboud@floridadental.org or call the Governmental Affairs Office at 850.224.1089

Dear Colleagues:

I hope you and your families are well and resuming your practices given the “new normal” as we recover from the COVID-19 slow down. The last several months have certainly been somewhat stressful and somewhat restful as we have endured significant financial concerns, practice limitations, and variations in protocols for infection control and patient management. I am confident that the future will allow us to better care for our patients and safeguard our staff members even though we would have appreciated a bit less abruptness.

The St. Pete Free Clinic has resumed its patient treatment, and many of these patients have been unable to obtain care for oral infections and pain relief. There is an urgent need for our dental association to step up. Our commitment to our community will hopefully be shared and displayed by ALL of us. I would like to request that upon receiving this letter, that you give Claudia Rosas a call at the Free Clinic in order to offer help with treating patients. Attached is a link to the google sheet where you can sign up to volunteer. Please follow the instructions that will be on the google sheet. The brand new clinic facility has begun its operation, and I have already had the opportunity to be there and begin the post COVID – 19 functions. They have made important changes in protocols to become compliant with the CDC/OSHA/ADA guidelines. I would welcome a call should you have any questions regarding PPE supplies and patient care. Claudia can be reached at the following number 727-485-8795 ext. 328 or you may e-mail her at claudia.rosas@stpetersburgfreeclinic.org

I want to thank each of you for being willing to participate in sharing in the care of our St. Petersburg community that cannot afford dental treatment. As our emergency room physicians have borne the brunt of the pandemic, our opportunity to provide help to patients with dental emergencies is here, and our involvement will allow a reduction in emergency room visits due to dental concerns. Please ask your office coordinator to call Claudia upon receiving this letter to confirm a date to help. If we all participate and commit one day volunteering at the clinic, our work will be light and the community will be served well. Thanks in advance for being part of this great effort.

Sincerely,

John H. Thee, DMD

727-347-3777