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Many organizations have put together resources for dealing with anxiety and depression related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Resources include: From the Ohio Department of Health: https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/ From the Centers for Disease Control (CDC): https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/managing-stress-anxiety.html From the American ... [continue reading]

Not that long ago I remember saying to one of my friends "I have been working non-stop. I seriously need some time off." They say to be careful of what you wish for. I didn’t mean this. As many of you know, and probably many more suspect, I am a Type A, with all of the things, good and bad that come with it. Even though that is how I am ... [continue reading]

At the time I am writing this we are about two weeks into the state's order directing all health care providers to delay all elective procedures. I give you that timeframe because by the time you read this undoubtedly even more changes and challenges will have emerged than what I am writing about today. Things seem to change daily, sometimes ... [continue reading]

We are truly in an unprecedented time when it comes to law making and the impact of the law on our society. When the governor made his first order during this nationwide pandemic it was truly an unprecedented decision. When the governor canceled the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus I was shocked and puzzled at how the government had the power to ... [continue reading]

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, orders from Gov. Mike DeWine, the Ohio Department of Health and the Ohio State Dental Board have mandated that Ohio dentists defer all non-essential and elective procedures in order to preserve the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) and prevent inadvertent spread of the coronavirus. Dentists ... [continue reading]

As we struggle to adjust to “the new normal” that is life in the world of COVID-19, I’m reminded that today is unique. We only get it once. Denise, my wife of 32 years and a professor in The OSU Division of Dental Hygiene, posted the following on her Facebook page. As I feel it accurately captures the feelings of so many people, ... [continue reading]

I asked the “ODA Today” staff to let me try to put some levity in this issue devoted to the COVID-19 pandemic, so I pulled my original column and now pose a tongue-in-cheek conundrum that I’ve been “sitting on” since all this started! The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our way of life and we’ll look back on it ... [continue reading]

It’s not lost on me that the last column I wrote for “ODA Today” was about getting a job in dentistry, and now I sit here unemployed. We are living through a pandemic, hospitals running low on PPE and ventilators, restaurants and dental offices closed for regular business, no definitive end in sight. The rate at which I’m ... [continue reading]

We have now added COVID-19 to the list of acronyms that denote benchmarks in our history. These are times that will be remembered as the guides and bumpers dictating our thoughts and directions for life as we thought we knew it. In several conversations, I have given my perspective on this current epoch as a combination of 9/11, Y2K, and the ... [continue reading]

I never thought that at the very beginning of my career I would be facing one of the greatest challenges of my life as a dentist and a human being: a global pandemic. None of us thought we would have to completely adjust every aspect of our lives in order to combat and live through the first pandemic of the modern age. Writing that sentence just ... [continue reading]