Working

by Tom Molony

Irene Stavros, RDH

For many dental hygienists, work means a Monday-through-Friday, nine-to-five job. But for Irene Stavros, RDH, of South Miami, Florida, dental hygiene has gone beyond the clinical setting. She serves as a key decision maker on various national and state dental boards.

Stavros began her dental hygiene career later than many others. She and her husband were young when they started their family, and until her mid-30s, Stavros dedicated herself to being a stay-at-home mother. "I had three children, one of [whom] was brain damaged, so she required all of my time," Stavros says. "Eventually, we had to institutionalize her when she was 12 years old." It was at that time Stavros, then 35, started working as a temporary receptionist. Several years later, she took on a full-time dental assistant position where, she says, she decided to go back to school to pursue a career in dentistry. However, soon after, Stavros's husband became ill, and she decided on dental hygiene school instead. She earned her associate of arts degree and associate of science degree in dental hygiene school from Miami Dade College and began her clinical career in 1984.

Five years into Stavros's clinical work, Miami Dade asked her to return as a part-time clinical instructor. She maintained her full-time general practice schedule and taught nights for the next 10 years. During her time at the college, Stavros recognized her opportunity to make a greater impact in her career than was possible through clinical practice and teaching.

"I have always believed that if you want to be true professional, it's your obligation to be a member of your professional association," Stavros says.

In 1996, the governor of Florida appointed Stavros, along with another dental hygienist, to her current position on the Florida State Board of Dentistry. Her duties include chairing the continuing education committee and serving on the legislative and infectious disease control committees. In these roles, she interprets statutes and laws and examines and conducts disciplinary proceedings against dentists and dental hygienists. She earns a stipend for her position on the board, which she says is, in terms of time spent working, almost a second full-time job. "The responsibilities of the board really require you to do [your] homework, such as reading casework and keeping up on state and national laws and statutes," Stavros says. "But [serving on the board] has been a highlight in my career and I've enjoyed it."

In March 2002, Stavros was asked to be a speaker at a meeting of the American Association of Dental Examiners (AADE). She says that she became interested in the issues that the organization believes in and began to attend the organization's meetings regularly. "[AADE is] an organization that is different from either the dental or dental hygiene professions in that its primary purpose is the protection of citizens [insofar as they have the potential to be harmed by dental care]," Stavros says. Shortly thereafter, she became a member of the AADE and took the same approach to her membership that she had taken when she joined her state board. She was elected by the association's general membership to its executive council in October 2003.

Currently, Stavros is in the first year of a two-year term and the only dental hygienist serving on the council. As a member of the AADE council, she helps write supplemental reports and resolutions, develops program ideas for implementation, and recruits dental hygienists to speak at meetings.

Another important aspect of her being on the board, she says, is that they deal with issues that affect the entire oral health community. Currently, the most pressing issue that the board is facing is education and the potential elimination of clinical exams. "There are organizations that would prefer to eliminate clinical exams," Stavros says. "The motivation behind this issue is that many organizations feel that the 'snapshot' (the term the board uses for the single clinical exam by which students seeking licensure are evaluated) is an unfair assessment of their capabilities." While dental hygiene is not one of those clinical exams being targeted at this point, Stavros says, dental hygienists expect their clinical exam to come under review at some point in the not too distant future.

As her time on the Florida State Board winds down, and with her term with the AADE limited to a total of four years (two, two-year terms), Stavros has decided to go back to school in pursuit of her bachelor's degree in health service administration, one that she feels will help her get a job in health service administration and maintain her busy schedule. "I am now in a baccalaureate program at Barry University," Stavros says.

"[Serving on these boards] has been a great experience," she says. "I've enjoyed being able to positively impact these professions and I suggest to anyone who feels they have progressive ideas to offer to the future of dental hygiene to apply for a local, state, or national board position."

This edition of Working was prepared by Tom Molony.