Ed Rabinowitz

	Congressman Brad Sherman (left) presents a replica of the Congressional Medal of Honor to Dr. Robert West on behalf of Captain Ben Salomon.

The expression “better late than never” could not be more appropriate than in the case of Captain Ben L. Salomon.

On May 1, 2002, President George W. Bush posthumously presented Salomon’s Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic efforts on Saipan, Marianas Islands, nearly 58 years earlier. Salomon is the first Army dentist ever to receive the prestigious award.

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“I was very proud that a dental officer had made this kind of sacrifice for his country,” said retired Major General Patrick Sculley, who was present at the White House ceremony and played a key role in having the Medal awarded. “It was the right thing to do.”

, he was born into a Jewish family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1914. After graduating from the University of Southern California Dental School in 1937, Salomon opened his own practice. Three years later, he was drafted into the U.S. Army.

In 1942, Salomon became an officer in the Army Dental Corps and was commissioned a first lieutenant. By May 1943, he was serving as the regimental dental officer of the 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division, and in 1944 was promoted to the rank of captain. His commanding officer labeled Salomon the unit’s best all-around soldier.

 Salomon saw his first combat a year later, going ashore on Saipan with the 105th Infantry Regiment. When the second Battalion’s surgeon became wounded, Salomon volunteered to take his place.

According to documents from the U.S. Army Medical Department, the Japanese army had been significantly reduced in size and possessed limited weapons. Nevertheless, they refused to surrender, and approximately 5,000 Japanese troops advanced on the American soldiers.

Salomon’s aid station was set up in a small tent about 50 yards behind the forward foxholes and 30 yards from the shoreline, and within minutes after the battle began, the station was overwhelmed by more than 30 wounded soldiers.

“Doctors and all medics have an obligation to protect the wounded entrusted to their care,” Sculley explains. “But they also have a right to defend themselves.”

Salomon ordered his assistants to move the less seriously wounded out of the tent to make room for the more grievously injured, but soon Japanese soldiers began to infiltrate the aid station. Captain Salomon fired on and killed the first soldier, but almost immediately four more came crawling under the tent walls.

“Rushing over to them, [Salomon] kicked the knife out of the hand of one, shot another, and bayoneted a third,” his biography says. “The fourth was shot by one of the wounded from his stretcher after Captain Salomon had butted him in the stomach as he lunged across the room to retrieve the knife with which he stabbed its owner to death.”

Salomon then grabbed a rifle from one of the wounded, left the tent and attempted to hold off the enemy as long as possible so the wounded could get to safety. He also manned a machine gun after its previous shooters were killed.

“He’d already taken out some of the enemy in the battalion aid station,” Sculley says. “And when he went outside, he realized they were overwhelmed and that the people who should have been defending [the station] were dead. I think he felt like he had no choice. He did the best he could to hold them off, and he died doing it.”

When the Army returned to the site the following day, Salomon’s body was found slumped over the machine gun. Ninety-eight Japanese bodies were piled in front of the gun position, which had clearly been moved several times in efforts to obtain a new field of fire. Salomon had 76 bullet wounds in his body, but his finger was still on the machine gun’s trigger.

Captain Edmund Love, the 27th Division historian who had surveyed the battle scene, was asked to write a recommendation for the Medal of Honor for Salomon. He later learned that the recommendation had been returned without action with a handwritten note from Major General George Griner, the commanding general of the 27th Division.

“I am deeply sorry that I cannot approve the award of this medal to Captain Salomon, although he richly deserves it. At the time of his death, this officer was in the medical service and wore a Red Cross brassard upon his arm. Under the rules of the Geneva Convention, to which the United States subscribes, no medical officer can bear arms against the enemy,” Griner’s note said.

Love would try again in 1951, resubmitting the recommendation through the Office of the Chief of Military History, but was told the time limit for submitting World War II awards had passed.

“That’s why a lot of the living recipients [of the Medal of Honor] will tell you, ‘I wear this for the guys who should have received it,’” says Laura Jowdy, C.A., an archivist with the 

Jowdy explains that the Medal of Honor process is extremely detailed. For starters, the recommendation must be accompanied by two eyewitness statements.

“Well, if everybody in a company is wiped out, you don’t know who did what or who had that moment of valor,” Jowdy says. “You don’t have your two eyewitness statements.”

Once a recommendation is made, the review process can take years. In Salomon’s case, Congress would eventually waive the timeline, but the Army still sends the recommendation all the way up the command ladder to ensure that it still meets the level of a Medal of Honor.

“Some of these recommendation packets I see come through, they actually draw diagrams of the battlefield,” Jowdy says. “As a historian that’s wonderful, because you’re trying to understand what was going on, and because so much was happening in this tiny moment in time.”

In 1969, the USC School of Dentistry named a clinic after Salomon, and in 1973, a dental clinic at Fort Benning, Georgia was dedicated in Salomon’s memory.

Then in the mid-1990s, Robert West, an alumnus of the USC School of Dentistry, came across Salomon’s story while working on a book to commemorate the school’s centennial anniversary. West began a dogged effort to have Salomon considered for a posthumous Medal of Honor, which included the assistance of Congressman Brad Sherman to have the statute of limitations waived.

That was when West received a letter from Sculley, who had recently become the new chief of the Army Dental Corps and was interested in Salomon’s story since first learning of it in the 1970s.

“I thought it was incumbent upon us to keep this alive,” Sculley says. “So, I kept an eye on it.”

Sculley was able to report back to West when it cleared the Army’s Senior Decorations Board, a group of senior army officers who look at the merits of the narrative and the action that took place before awarding a Medal of Honor.

“What you don’t want is to have it get sidelined, get in somebody’s in-basket and not move forward, because there’s a timeliness to this,” Sculley says. “Even though we no longer have the statute of limitations, you have a congressman who’s going to be up for election every two years in the House of Representatives. You know, he can get voted out of office, and then you have to find another champion.”

But there was another element of time sensitivity at work. Sculley was scheduled to retire in June 2002, and while the posthumous award looked eminent, Sculley very much wanted it to be presented before he retired.

“You want to see the right thing happen,” Sculley says. “You want to see virtue be rewarded. [Salomon] made an amazing sacrifice.”

In a Rose Garden ceremony at the White House, just days before Sculley retired, virtue and perseverance were rewarded. West received the Medal on behalf of Salomon, who was an only child and had no living relatives and then presented it to Sculley for permanent placement in the Army Medical Department Museum in San Antonio, Texas. A replica is housed at the USC School of Dentistry.

“I was very proud that Dr. West was entrusting that medal to me to present to the Army Medical Museum,” Sculley recalls. “He knew it was going to its real home, where we have the images of 50 medics who have earned the Medal of Honor.”

Days later, when Sculley ceremoniously retired, he recalled it as the most memorable day in his life, with the ultimate event being the presentation of Salomon’s Medal to the museum.

“I knew that the medal would be well cared for and there for everybody to see and honor the sacrifice that Ben Salomon made,” Sculley said.

Salomon’s ashes, together with those of his parents, are interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

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Articles

Captain Ben Salomon, a commissioned dental officer, served in the 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Division, during World War II. He was recommended for the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in defending wounded soldiers under his care on Saipan on July 7, 1944. Fifty-eight years later, he became the first dentist to receive the award.


After 5 Decades, One Army Dentist's Valor is Recognized

Dentists are known for their commitment to serving their respective communities.

	Dentists are fascinating people. Perhaps moreso than any other health care practitioners, dentists are interwoven into the fabric of communities. They see their patients more frequently than any other type of doctor, they hear the latest escapades of the family dog and they want to know how a son or daughter is doing in college. Dentists are community fixtures.

Dentists also have a rare combination of skills. Dentists pair technical skills and compassion to care for those in need with business savvy and acumen to build success from the ground up.

Outside their practices, the fruits of their labor enable dentists to live lives of purpose as adventurers, entrepreneurs and contributors to their communities.

The professionals on this list are the drivers and the doers of dentistry who have dedicated themselves to improve the lives of their patients, anticipated and capitalized on some of the industry’s biggest trends and given back to the communities that have supported them. These are the 10 most interesting dentists practicing today.

Cynthia Aita-Holmes describes herself as having a Type-A personality.

“I have to do it all,” she says. “I love to compete.”

Aita-Holmes, a colonel, is the director of U.S. Army Advanced Education in Prosthodontics and prosthodontic consultant to the Surgeon General at Tingay Dental clinic in Fort Gordon, Georgia. A French-Canadian native who grew up outside Montreal, Aita-Holmes came to the U.S. in 1999 to train as a prosthodontist. She loves her occupation.

“It’s very precise work,” she explains.

Aita-Holmes creates synthetic body parts from molds cast into silicone that are painted to match the unique characteristics of a person’s face. Her patients include combat veterans, but also patients with cancer and congenital diseases and other trauma that can disfigure a face.

“For us, a tenth of a millimeter is important,” she says. “That’s one of the challenges.”

The other challenge — and what she says drew her to prosthodontics — is that patients see direct results. She explains that there are two goals in prosthodontics: better functionality and helping the patient look better. But like any challenge, there are rewards.

“I’ve had a lot of patients tell me that I have totally changed their lives,” Aita-Holmes says.

Speaking of challenges, Aita-Holmes, who grew up as a competitive swimmer and qualified for the Olympic trials in Canada, recently became director of the residency program at Fort Gordon. She says that being a mentor for the residents is the most demanding job she has ever had.

“But I love training the residents,” she says. “They’re all like my kids. And I love to give back to them everything I’ve learned and experienced in prosthodontics.”

There are some who become dentists because their experiences in the operatory as children were so pleasant that they wanted create the same experiences for others. That was not the case for James TenBrook.

“I had an archaic dental experience,” he recalls. “My dentist was pretty old. Nice guy, but a little grumpy. And the procedures were kind of rough.”

His tenure with braces was no better. “Not exactly a pleasant experience over a five-year period.” But those experiences became his motivation. “There has to be a better way,” TenBrook recalls thinking.

That is what led TenBrook to take a more minimalist approach. The Harvard-trained orthodontist and principal of TenBrook Orthodontics, with nine offices across southern New Jersey, is also the developer of the T1 TenBrook Self-Ligating technology, meaning less time in braces and more comfort during the process for patients.

The TenBrook T1 and T-Clear Braces use low-friction technology that minimizes the force exerted on a patient’s teeth. That translates into minimal discomfort, faster tooth movement and a reduction of treatment duration to about one year.

“That’s why I got into the profession in the first place,” he says. “I always wanted to do something where I could make a difference. And I feel like we do that in our practices. It’s very gratifying to see the results on our end, but also for the patients. That’s a neat experience.”

When he’s not working, TenBrook enjoys time with his family as well as fishing and golf. The latter two are a reflection of aging.

“That’s probably why I’ve evolved into those sports,” he joked. “My mind says yes, but my body says no.”

Tucked away in Mill Creek, a city of slightly more than 18,000 people in Snohomish County, Wash., is Mill Creek Family Dentistry. Its principal, Casey Culberson, DDS, calls himself a different kind of dentist.

“I had my first filling right before dental school started, and I thought, I can’t believe I’m going to do that to people all day long,” Culberson recalls. “So I made it my philosophy that I will do anything I can to make the patient experience better.”

And he has. A successful inventor, Culberson developed the patented Molar Media Mount, a lightweight arm that mounts directly to an existing dental light and holds a media device, such as an iPad, directly in front of the patient’s eyes.

“I was working on a child and he was squirming all over the place,” Culberson says. “We had TVs on arms, but you can’t really see them because they’re in a corner of the room near the ceiling.”

Culberson developed a prototype and was not planning on distributing it beyond his own practice, that is until patients began saying how much they loved the feature. Then a dentist from California whom Culberson did not know ordered one. That was a highly rewarding feeling, Culberson said.

Outside the office, Culberson is also an adventure-loving individual. An avid sailor prolific skydiver, he says the experience is not unlike filling a cavity.

“Doing my first filling in dental school was terrifying,” he recalls. “But then my instructor said there will come a point where, just like driving home and not remembering how you got there, the majority of what you do will be on cruise control. That’s how it is for me with skydiving.”

It was the mid-1990s when Ed Zuckerberg wondered whether he was doing all he could to help patients overcome their fear of the dentist. He knocked down a wall, installed a 200-lb saltwater aquarium in the wall between two treatment rooms and his practice quickly became known as the office with the fish.

It was a success and made his practice recession- and insurance-proof. But it also signaled an important calling to Zuckerberg.

“I consider myself to be a very competent clinical dentist,” he says. “But my expertise is really in everything non-clinical — running the business end of a practice and integrating technology.”

Today, through his Painless Social Media Facebook page, Zuckerberg, who is the father of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, lectures at dental conventions and dental societies about how dentists can maximize the benefits of social media for their practices and improve their marketing capabilities. He also does private consulting for dental offices, helping them with their social media and marketing presence.

Zuckerberg is still in practice in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. Treating young people and helping them overcome their fear of going to the dentist is still among the biggest thrills in his career.

“Being the first one to get my hands as a dentist on a young patient, making them a patient for life, not fearful of going to the dentist, and then watching them grow up and have kids and then bring their kids to me, that is incredibly rewarding.”

Martha J. Somerman has been the director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial research since 2011. Her research has focused on the key regulators controlling development, maintenance and regeneration of oral-dental-craniofacial tissues. In 2011, she was recognized for her work with the Goldhaber Award from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. The annual award, established in 1989 to honor Dr. Paul Goldhaber, a periodontist and researcher, honors a scientist or educator of distinction whose work in dentistry and medicine has gained international recognition.

Roger Levin refers to himself as an inch-wide, mile-deep person .

Levin, a third-generation general dentist and the founder and CEO of Levin Group, collects Bordeaux wine and modern art prints. But he doesn’t just collect.

“I’m also a deep student,” Levin explains. “It’s never just drink the wine or buy the print.”

That’s Levin’s approach. Almost immediately upon entering dental practice, he realized the importance of practice management and marketing. Initially based on his personal experience, Levin quickly developed a scientific method to establish systems that worked best in dental practices. Thirty-three years later, Levin Group is a systems-based consulting firm.

Dentists are many things, but you cannot call them boring. As pillars of their communities, they become close to their patients and have a gift for remembering birthdays, family milestones and even patients' favorite toothpaste flavors. Our contributor put together a list of the most charismatic dentists around the United states, so continue below to see if you or a friend made the list.

The 10 Most Interesting Dentists Practicing Today

Dental practices should take extra precaution to keep patient and medical records secure.

How compliant is your record storage system?

Chances are, if you’re a small, independent practitioner, you don’t have the luxury of a human resources department that can answer important questions — questions like, can you keep certain types of files together? Or, how long do you have to hold job applications for someone you didn’t hire?

The answers are imperative, and they are just the tip of the iceberg. Dental offices, explains Jaime Lizotte, HR solutions manager 

, are not atypical of any small business.

“They’re regulated by the same authorities other businesses are,” Lizotte says.

Those authorities include the Department of Labor, which houses various divisions such as the Wage and Hour Division, OSHA and the U.S. Customs Immigration Service — each with its own menu of risks and penalties that could significantly impact a dental practice.

Lizotte explains that the fines and penalties imposed by various government agencies can be as severe as imprisonment, depending on the violation. Employees at a dental practice could also pursue private lawsuits under various state employment laws.

“That’s where things get really complicated,” she says. “Employers need to understand these laws and regulations to make sure they remain in compliance and avoid getting into any hot water.”

One of the most common examples of lawsuits that Lizotte sees is with the Fair Labor Standards Act — the regulation for non-payment — which falls under the Department of Labor and the Wage and Hour Division. That could include lawsuits over unpaid wages for employees who didn’t get paid overtime but should have been paid because of their job duties and positions.

Lizotte also sees a lot of discrimination and harassment cases that come under Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act. Those cases could fall under the auspices of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or possibly state discrimination laws.

When it comes to defending these types of lawsuits, the impact can be widespread.

“It can cost employers upwards of six figures,” Lizotte says. “And it’s not just the amount of money it costs. It also has an effect on employees within the practice in terms of their morale and retention.”

If a practice is still maintaining paper files, there are some important recordkeeping guidelines to be followed. For example, employee personnel files must be kept separate from patient records. And among employee records, medical information — such as any doctors’ notes or Workers’ Compensation documentation — must be kept apart from any basic employee information.

“Businesses should actually take extra measures to make sure medical information is locked and secured so that other employees can’t access these records,” Lizotte says. “There should be a separate medical folder for each employee versus just putting all the medical information in one folder.”

It’s also a good idea to keep all employee I-9 records separate. These are the forms used for verifying the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired at the practice. It’s not a regulation to do so, but Lizotte suggests keeping the I-9 records together and separate from all other employment records.

“This is so they can organize the file so that it’s tabbed with employee information,” she explains. “If they have any investigations, they’ll be able to easily access that information and only provide what they need for the investigator.”

It’s inevitable that at some point an error will be made on a handwritten record. When that happens, Lizotte cautions never to white out any information.

“That would obviously appear to anyone who is doing an investigation that you’re trying to hide something,” she says.

Instead, cross out the inaccurate information and make a note next to it. Or, attach a separate sheet to the record indicating why changes were made to the form, what the changes were and the date they were made.

When it comes to I-9 forms, there are specific instructions for how changes are to be indicated. That includes making a line through the erroneous entry and attaching either a self-audit correction sheet showing the changes made with the date, or a brand new form reflecting the changes made.

If you’re migrating from a paper records system to an online, cloud-based system, or already using the latter, these online solutions often provide much of the compliance information that will alleviate the burden employers face to make sure they’re being compliant.

“And the best thing is that you’re protected from any natural disasters,” Lizotte says. “If a tornado hits and there’s nothing left of the practice, the records will still be available in the cloud, and can be accessed from anywhere.”

If you've been overlooking the setting up of a compliant record storage system, it's time for a change. Recordkeeping violations can be costly both from a monetary standpoint as well as with respect to human capital. Understanding both Federal and state compliance regulations is imperative. Continue below to see best practices and suggestions from our experts. 

Everything You Need to Know About Compliant Recordkeeping

Dr. Teitelbaum completed his bachelor's degree two years ahead of schedule.

Knowledge is power, and cosmetic dentist Michael Teitelbaum, D.M.D., F.A.G.D., has fashioned a career through his desire to learn not just about affecting a patient’s smile, but their overall health as well.

 “As long as you keep learning, you keep living.”

Those were the words Michael Teitelbaum, D.M.D., F.A.G.D., owner and director at 

, heard often from his father. And he took them to heart.

Teitelbaum completed his bachelor’s degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in just two years, then went on to become one of the youngest dental students in the country at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine.

Challenging? Yes, but something Teitelbaum says was worthwhile doing.

“Doing college in two years was a lot of pressure, but I just had that goal to do it,” he recalls.

Dentistry is a calling Teitelbaum says he felt since he was an adolescent helping out in his father’s dental practice. He often heard his father tell people what a great career dentistry was. You can work with your hands, be creative, be your own boss and make a good living.

“Why wouldn’t you want to do it?” Teitelbaum asked.

Shortly after Teitelbaum finished dental school, he and his father formed a dental study group that brought in elite dentists to speak for a day. It was circa 1991, and that’s when Teitelbaum first learned about cosmetic dentistry. He subsequently attended an Orlando meeting of the 

 and found the excitement being generated infectious.

“To see how you could change people’s lives was just so incredible,” he recalls. “It was something we knew we had to get on board with. That was pretty much the beginning of the revolution in cosmetic dentistry.”

And Teitelbaum was part of it. He went on to help found 

the Empire State Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry

, now known as the Greater New York Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, of which he is president. It is the largest and fastest growing affiliate of the AACD in the northeast.

Meanwhile, Teitelbaum continued his focus on education. Whereas New York State recently passed laws requiring only 15 hours of continuing education each year, Teitelbaum averages more than 100 hours per year. But he does not keep that knowledge to himself.

“When I did my specialty program in prosthodontics, the head of the program was saying that I was getting advanced knowledge, more than any other dentist out there,” Teitelbaum says. “And he told me that my responsibility was to go back out there and educate others and share with them what I’ve learned.”

Which he does, continuing his educational mission by lecturing at dental association meetings around the country, teaching others the latest in cutting edge and cosmetic dentistry.

Through his thirst for knowledge, Teitelbaum has begun treating sleep apnea. He learned through a friend of a new technology called MATRx, developed by Zephyr Sleep Technologies. He describes it as a very precise, scientific way of determining if an individual’s sleep apnea can be treated with a simple night guard.

“It’s one thing to help people and change their lives by re-doing their smile,” he says. “And that’s very satisfying. But there isn’t very much in dentistry where you save somebody’s life. With sleep apnea, it’s a life-threatening condition. and it’s something that now, as a dentist, I can treat and help save people’s lives.”

He tells the story of a patient who has been using the night guard for about six months. The first night she slept with it, her husband woke during the night and had to put his hand on her to make sure she was still alive because she was so quiet. She was no longer snoring.

“She breathed through the whole night, and when she woke up she was so refreshed and so full of energy,” Teitelbaum says. “She hadn’t felt like that. It’s a really cool story.”

Teitelbaum is also well known for his charitable work. Most notable is his annual Candy Buy Back program done each Halloween. He offers children a dollar for every pound of candy they bring in, which is then sent to U.S. troops overseas.

It was shortly after 9/11 when Teitelbaum learned through one of his Internet dentistry discussion groups that a Wisconsin-based dentist had just initiated the Candy Buy Back program. The next Halloween, Teitelbaum began implementing it locally, and it has grown every year.

“In the last 14 or so years that I’ve been doing it, I’ve probably collected a few thousand pounds of candy,” he says.

One of the nicest parts of the program is Teitelbaum receiving word back from soldiers overseas who dispense some of the candy to young children in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It’s like the kids’ first taste of American freedom,” he says. “And they learn to love the soldiers.”

It also helps the children locally who collect and donate the candy to keep from overloading on sugar.

“I’ll fix cavities on little kids,” Teitelbaum says. “But if I can stop little kids from getting cavities, that makes my life easier, and it’s better for them too.”

Teitelbaum says many of his dentist friends limit their continuing education, don’t give educational lectures, and don’t engage in charity work.

“And they’re miserable,” he says. “I was just talking to a friend the other day who hates dentistry. He goes around telling people, young people, don’t go into dentistry. Well, I have the exact opposite point of view.”

It’s a viewpoint Teitelbaum passes on. His daughter is now in high school and has expressed interest in becoming a dentist.

“It tells me that I’m doing something right,” he says. “I’m projecting the right attitude, not just with my patients in the office, but at home too.”

Some heroes wear capes, but this one sports a lab coat. Dr. Michael Teitelbaum is not only helping restore confidence to his patients through cosmetic dentistry, with his passion for learning, he is helping patients with sleep apnea wake up refreshed for the first time in a long time. Continue below to learn more about Teitelbaum's accomplishments and advice. 


Cosmetic Dentist Changes and Saves Lives

Creating a safe, inclusive environment is key in preventing harassment within a practice.

Virtually everyone wants to grow his or her dental practice. But did you know that what could be growing within your practice is a culture that fosters harassment and discrimination?

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Ashley Kaplan, Esq., senior employment law attorney with 

, says that sexual harassment continues to be a common issue, and not just in large corporations.

“I can tell you from personal experience, having represented a lot of dentist offices, that sexual harassment continues to be a common issue and claim that we see,” Kaplan says. “Managers, supervisors, even the dentists themselves need to have special training on their role.”

And integrating effective training is not difficult to accomplish.

Kaplan explains that it has not yet become protocol for all new employees to go through harassment training when joining a small dental practice. Fortunately, the cost to develop an effective program is small.

“There are many off-the-shelf solutions that can help dentist offices meet training initiatives,” Kaplan says. “You don’t have to hire an expert to come in and do the training for you. There are some exceptions, like in California, where you have to have an expert conduct the training, but that’s a very narrow exception.”

But even with periodic training, Kaplan cautions that employees are still human beings who either choose to ignore the training, or think no one will say anything and they will be able to fly under the radar. They may not recognize they have crossed the line.

“A lot of people believe that flirting is okay any time, anywhere,” Kaplan explains. “They don’t realize you can harm someone just by interfering with their work environment or creating a hostile environment.”

And harassment claims are not limited to sexual advances.

“We’ve seen more sexual harassment claims based on gender,” Kaplan adds. “Putting women down or questioning women for fighting the fight. That can also create a hostile environment.”

Creating a harassment and discrimination-free environment is a two-fold approach, Kaplan says. Training and education is the first element, but it’s also critical to have specific, written policies in place. Federal law doesn’t mandate it, but showing that you took proper steps to prevent harassment from occurring is the best defense against any type of claim.

“As a best practice, you should do training once a year,” Kaplan recommends. For new hires, that should include training during orientation. Then build it into an annual program as a refresher or reinforcement.

There are certain elements that encompass an effective policy. First, the policy needs to identify the characteristics of the harassment that is prohibited, such as race, religion or national origin. There should also be examples of what harassment is, a clear procedure for reporting harassment and assurance that there will be no retaliation for reporting harassment. Lastly, that the claim will be investigated and kept confidential.

“You can’t just throw together a policy and say harassment is prohibited,” Kaplan explains. “It needs to have some meat to it and actually help employees, especially when it comes to letting them know what to do if they feel they’re harassed.”

In addition, employees designated as the recipients of a harassment claim need to be trained in how to deal with, respond to and investigate harassment. Kaplan says the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recommends that an investigation be initiated within 48 hours after a complaint has been filed.

“It’s not something you can wait around for,” she says. “You have to have someone who knows how to handle and document a complaint. If not, it’s time to call an attorney or HR professional.”

Kaplan says that suits brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act are very common because the definition of a disability is broad. It covers physical disabilities as well as mental, such as depression, anxiety and sleep disorders.

“It’s a matter of awareness,” Kaplan says. “Employees have become more aware of their rights.”

Those rights include accommodations for coming to work late because of a side effect to medication that makes an employee ill in the morning, or needing a special chair or permission to stand due to back issues. However, many employers do not recognize that as an ADA issue and often ignore valid request for accommodations.

“I think employers are shortsighted,” Kaplan says. “And that’s why we’re seeing a lot more of these lawsuits.”

Sexual harassment continues to be a common issue in businesses large and small. A lack of awareness and training helps foster an environment where harassment and discrimination are not only tolerated, they are often accepted as part of the culture. Luckily, creating a safe and healthy work environment for your employees is not complicated. Read below to learn more. 

Recognizing, Correcting and Preventing Harassment in Your Practice

The state of cosmetic dentistry is thriving, based on survey results from 

The American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry

The most recent survey, conducted in 2015, indicates that 99 percent of respondents identified appearance as their number one concern, ranking it above cost, which was second at 88 percent. Where spending is concerned, 52 percent of practices indicated revenue for cosmetic dentistry procedures between $100,000 and $499,999. The two highest categories, $750,000 to more than $1 million, increased by four percentage points over the 2013 survey.

So why the increased interest in cosmetic dentistry?

“We live in a generation, especially among young people, where it’s all social media driven,” says Kenneth Magid, D.D.S., F.I.C.D., director of Pre Doctoral Laser Dentistry, and associate clinical professor at NYU College of Dentistry. “Match.com did a study, and they found that the single most important attribute when somebody looks at a potential date is their smile.”

But the positive impact of a smile goes well beyond the dating scene.

Magid recalls a cosmetic makeover he performed on a patient a few years ago, and after, the patient said it was the single greatest business decision he had made. Prior to the surgery, when the patient, who was in sales and marketing, sat across the table from someone and neglected to smile because he did not like his teeth, it left an impression of being cold.

“You get no second chance to make a first impression,” Magid says.

Smiles say a great deal about a person, Magid adds. He believes that presidents George Bush and George Herbert Walker Bush looked weak because they never had a dynamic smile. During a job interview, individuals may be at a disadvantage if they do not have an attractive smile.

That disadvantage is not limited to young people trying to impress on social media. Magid explains that as people age, their teeth get worn, yellow and begin to wear unevenly, making them appear older.

“When you go on that job interview, if you look old, you don’t look as if you are with it,” he says. “And in our society, no matter what your age is, you’d better be with it.”

If you’re thinking of integrating cosmetic dentistry into your practice, your success could depend on how well you want to perform it. Magid says there are many practices that advertise cosmetic dentistry, yet have no extensive training in the field. What they lack is proper training in designing a case for cosmetic dentistry.

“I can teach a monkey to prep a veneer,” Magid says. “But the important stuff is in the design. It’s in understanding and planning the mathematics of a proper smile.”

Beauty, according to Magid, is a function of mathematics and balance. A beautiful face and smile can be described based on percentages and proportions. In other words, a beautiful smile is based on proportions of the face, teeth and display — a wide range of considerations.

“To do cosmetic dentistry properly takes education and planning,” Magid says. “We design the smile first. The patient gets to see the design before we ever touch a tooth. If you want to call yourself a cosmetic dentist, you can do it. But then you have to do something to show people this is your area of expertise.”

Magid explains that the current generation of dental patients does not have the volume of cavities that dentists saw 20 years ago. As such, dentists want to do other things, and one of the areas they want to focus on, because it’s financially rewarding, is cosmetic dentistry.

The American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry estimates that Americans spend about $2.75 billion each year on cosmetic dentistry. The American Dental Association indicates that a person’s smile outranked eyes, hair and body as the most important physical feature.

But wanting to do cosmetic dentistry and doing it the way cosmetics should be done, Magid says, are two different things. Too many dentists are taught how to prep a veneer and say they can do cosmetic dentistry.

“And what we end up with is ugly smiles,” Magid says.

He recommends dentists become members of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and take training courses in aesthetics to understand how to design a smile.

“All the designing, all the understanding of the facial profile, of facial balance, and strong side versus weak side — all of that happens before you ever cut a tooth.

In today's visual generation of selfies and social media, people are increasingly cognizant of their smile. Cosmetic dentistry is the beneficiary to the tune of $2.75 billion spent each year. But before simply integrating cosmetic dentistry into your practice, understanding the aesthetics is critical. Continue below to learn more. 

Done Right, Cosmetic Dentistry Offers Financial Rewards

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