Author: Todd Odenweller

The Ohio General Assembly is considering a pair of bills (House Bill 606 and Senate Bill 308) that would provide certain businesses and health care providers with qualified civil immunity during the current coronavirus pandemic and other such emergencies. On behalf of the ODA, I submitted testimony in support of these bills to both the House Civil ... [continue reading]

Dental offices that either require the use of respirators such as N95 masks or make their use optional must create an OSHA Respiratory Protection Program. The Ohio Dental Association has developed a sample OSHA Respiratory Protection Program for dental offices as part of our regulatory compliance guide. For more information about the OSHA ... [continue reading]

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we understand that many Give Kids A Smile events that were scheduled for the spring or summer may have been postponed or canceled. If your event has been canceled due to the pandemic, please remember to report that to the Ohio Dental Association and American Dental Association. Please log into the GKAS sign-up ... [continue reading]

The Ohio Free Clinic Dentist Loan Repayment Program aims to increase access to dental care in Ohio's Free Clinics by providing loan repayment assistance to dentists who volunteer or work part-time in an Ohio Free Clinic. Applications for the program are being accepted through July 24. For more details and to apply, visit ... [continue reading]

The Battelle CCDS Critical Care Decontamination System™ addresses the current shortage of critical Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) across the United States. Battelle CCDS™ is designed to work on N95 respirators for the decontamination of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Battelle’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) allows ... [continue reading]

The U.S. Department of Labor has released a new poster that employers are required to post as of April 1, 2020. The new poster provides information about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The ODA provides this and all other required posters for free to ODA members as a benefit of membership. To download the poster, visit ... [continue reading]

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) is deferring the due date for employers to pay their June, July, and August premium installments until Sept. 1. Governor DeWine said the deferral is designed to help employers focus resources on re-opening their businesses under his Responsible RestartOhio Plan, ... [continue reading]

While sitting at my desk waiting for emergencies, I dozed off with dentistry on my mind. . . I don’t know about you, but I find keeping track of all the sales tax on our services is nearly impossible, not to mention dealing with the patients’ anger about spending more money. Oh, and the record keeping for local anesthesia that we are ... [continue reading]

Last month's column focused on the “unprecedented” nature of our current situation as we navigate our way through the coronavirus pandemic. This novel coronavirus – COVID-19 – creates unprecedented challenges to how we live and how you practice dentistry. I wrote in last month’s column that “in our lifetimes we ... [continue reading]

As I write this column it is May 5 – Cinco de Mayo. It doesn’t necessarily feel celebratory today, but who knows? Maybe I will have a party of one this evening since we are still social distancing. Early in this pandemic, someone shared a quote with me that I want to share with you. “Adversity does not build character, it reveals ... [continue reading]