Working

Barbara Smith, RDH, MS

Barbara Smith, RDH, MS, has been working in geriatric care for about 30 years. But when she started her baccalaureate training as a dental hygienist, she thought she would never work with older patients again.

“I had a really difficult experience when I was in my training,” she explained. “I had a rotation in a nursing home, and I was kind of overwhelmed by it because there were nursing home staff trying to provide oral health care and solve the oral problems that their residents had and didn’t really have resources and didn’t know who to ask. As a student, I didn’t have the answers. I kind of left that day and thought I was never going back into a nursing home. And I didn’t for a number of years.”

But working as a student intern with the Minnesota Board on Aging during her masters training sparked that interest again. She said that having mentors who realized what was happening with the aging population encouraged her to continue her work providing oral care for the elderly.

Smith started her career as a dental hygienist 38 years ago after being introduced to it by a friend of her older sister. She said, “It seemed like an interesting thing to do with science and working with people.”

Currently, the Tipp City, Ohio native holds the title of manager of geriatric and special needs populations in the Council on Access, Prevention and Interprofessional Relations (CAPIR) for the American Dental Association (ADA). Before accepting this position, though, she taught at various educational institutions, like Indiana University, University of Minnesota, University of Iowa, University of Oklahoma and University of Michigan. She also worked as a public health dental hygienist for the Indiana State Board of Health and with non-profit organizations the Wilder Foundation and Apple Tree Dental.

She said she decided to accept the position at ADA because of the job description. “When I read the description, I thought I had so many of the qualifications, and I was so thrilled that ADA was taking a proactive position on addressing the needs of this elderly group, I just thought I needed to do this,” she said. “I felt compelled to do it.”

Within her new position (she has been there for a little over a year), Smith is primarily responsible for implementing various initiatives that are contained in Resolution 5H-2006, the vulnerable elderly resolution. It includes what she refers to as three pillars: education, research and advocacy, which all include activities that will impact the oral health of older adults.

Smith also works with the OralLongevity program, a multifaceted educational campaign intended to address seniors’ oral health needs by encouraging self-care, caregiver care and care by a dentist.

“I think it’s a very different scope of influence,” she said, describing how her new position differs from her previous work. “Half of the ADA is behind-the-scenes players, and we have the opportunity to gather experts in the field from the ADA membership and others and apply their expertise and knowledge to solve problems, so basically we serve largely as a catalyst or facilitator getting the appropriate people at the table to address some of these issues that we’ve talked about before.”

Throughout her career, Smith said, she has had some memorable moments but still hopes the best is yet to come. One example particularly stood out for her, which occurred while she attended a work group session at the University of Iowa. She said she noticed that, as they gave their presentations, all the presenters acknowledged her work as having contributed to theirs.

“It was very interesting because then we went into breakout sessions and when I walked into the session, everyone fell silent and then finally someone spoke up and said, ‘You’re really like a star,’” she explained. “I said, ‘No, I just had an opportunity to work with some great people in a lot of different places.’ It was really kind of funny because you don’t realize the influence you have.”

Smith said that, for now, her focus is to target older adults, specifically the frail and functionally dependent, because it is difficult for them to obtain oral health care. “My goals are to continue to work for those who contributed so much to our society and our country and to have them enjoy the same standard of care that the rest of us not only enjoy but expect,” she said. “And I’ll be working on that as long as I have the opportunity to do so.”

This edition of Working was prepared by Frances Moffett.