Cinco de Mayo Head Assistant Fun!

At Lane & Associates Family Dentistry we know how important meetings are for professional development and growth, but we also know they don’t have to be boring! Our Head Assistants celebrated their quarterly meeting in style. The entire meeting was Cinco de Mayo themed from decor to games to food. Table runners in a variety of colors hosted paper flowers, vases filled with colored water and fresh flower arrangements, and mini sombreros. The assistants were filled with surprise and even took pieces of the table arrangements with them!

Awards and accolades were distributed throughout the meeting. We learned and ate lunch catered by Chinelos. The delicious spread included chicken, beef, beans, rice, guacamole, salad, salsa, and a cheese fountain!

To conclude the meeting each Head Assistant received a piñata stuffed with candy and a special prize. The prizes included: 2 sets of 6 tickets to a Mudcats baseball game, a total of $360 cash, and $150 worth of gift cards.

We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating Cinco de Mayo with our Head Assistants and cannot wait for our next themed meeting.

Here are some fun captures of Wednesday’s meeting!

 

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Dental Outreach Day at LAA

As you know, giving back to our community is an essential priority at Lane & Associates Family Dentistry. We take pride in our communities and giving back to those in need. This past weekend, our dentists and staff at the Cary Green Level office provided a Dental Outreach Day to nearly 15 patients throughout NC performing nearly $15,000 worth of dentistry!

dental outreach day at Lane and Associates Cary

Our LAA Volunteer Team

Of course, we wouldn’t be able to perform these amazing feats without our incredible team! Our volunteer staff included doctors Howard, DesRosiers, Piplani, and Bashir, dental assistants Sarah Benore, Alanna Johnson, Megean Rehm, Genevieve Chase Thomas, Amy Kenagy, and Darlene Rivera, hygienist Dorcas Eason, and office managers Heather Egan and Stephanie Santiago. Take a look at some photos from the event below!

Dental procedures performed ranged from dental cleanings and exams to root canals, extractions, and fillings. Patients traveled from all over North Carolina, even some driving from Greensboro to attend the event. We are so proud of our staff for volunteering their services and giving back to our communities! Thank you for your pure hearts and for sharing your talents!

To see more community outreach at Lane & Associates, visit our Community Involvement page here!

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What a remarkable convention filled to the brim with dental knowledge, fellowship, and fun! Our corporate staff and dentists had the pleasure of attending the American Dental Association’s (ADA) SmileCon 2021 in beautiful Las Vegas last week! 

The convention was held at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and had over 10,000 attendees with 300 exhibitors! Our team attended CE courses, business in dentistry courses, and interacted with the other dental members from thousands of other practices across the country. 

The ADA had a new take on their typical annual meeting and created an immersive experience centered around the attendee. There were incredible speakers, Smile lounge games, creative sessions, and even a scavenger hunt! 

Thank you to the entire ADA staff, its volunteers, and the sponsors who hosted such an incredible week of learning, playing, and living dentistry! It truly made us smile! We can’t wait for the ADA SmileCon 2022 in Houston, see y’all there! 

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Our Lane & Associates staff wants to send out a warm Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of our patients, friends, and family! We are so lucky to have you with us as a part of the Lane Family! Take a look at some photos from our offices this week in celebration of the Luckiest Day.

We hope your St. Paddy’s Day was full of fun like ours!!

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At Lane & Associates, our dental team means the world to us!

That’s why this Dentist’s Day and Dental Assistant Appreciation Week we delivered a fun appreciation gift to show how much we care! Check out the smiles below of many of our dental assistants and dentists that received their gifts this week. We think our gift tag was pretty clever, what do you think?!

Each branded mask and gift card came in a gift box saying, “We can’t mask our love for you!”

Thank you to all of our staff for your incredible work ethic, your motivation, and your commitment to Lane & Associates Family Dentistry. You make us smile! 

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The North Carolina Dental Society Foundation Golf Challenge was held this past week in Pinehurst, NC at the Pinehurst Resort. Lane & Associates Family Dentistry was proud to be a Tournament Sponsor where all proceeds, totaling more than $40,000, were donated to the North Carolina Missions of Mercy Dental Programs and its free dental clinics.

Two of our teams participated in the Golf Challenge and our very own Dr. Raleigh Wright won the Putting Challenge (for the second year in a row!). Take a look at the photos below to see more of the golf tournament fun!

Sponsors for NCDSF
From left to right: Dr. Kellan Graham and his wife, Dr. Raleigh Wright, and LAA Hygienist Mark Williamson posing next to $5,000 Tournament Sponsors Banner.
Putting challenge at NCDSF
Nighttime putting challenge course.
Pinehurst Resort Golf Course Charity Golf Challenge
From left to right: Dr. Kellan Graham, Dr. Jeff Hooper, Mark Williamson, and Brian Bunch on Team Lane #1.
Lane employees at NCDSF Golf Challenge
From left to right: Lilly Holcomb, Dr. Alexander Crain, Dr. Raleigh Wright, and Blair Friday on Lane Team #2.
Lane Teams at NCDSF Golf Challenge
Both of our Lane Teams!

Our golfers had a fantastic time supporting the North Carolina Dental Society Foundation while social distancing, and are excited to participate again in 2021!

Learn more about the North Carolina Dental Society Foundation and what they do to help the oral health of North Carolinians by checking out their website here. Also, if you have the opportunity to donate to their cause, you can donate to a great cause and enter for a chance to win a Luxury car worth up to $75,000 here!

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We wanted to take a moment to not only applaud our staff that continues to see emergency cases but also our staff who are unable to spend time with the patients they love to see and help. 

Many of our doctors and hygienists are either coming into our offices on a case-by-case basis or signing on for full days of urgent care patients. Unfortunately, others must stay home or reduce their hours due to exposure to themselves or family members & also at the orders of our government for elective dental procedures to cease. 

Here are three stories from our doctors and hygienists. We asked each how their life has changed during the COVID-19 Pandemic and these were their responses. 

Dr. Matt Miller, Sedation Dentist at Lane & Associates Family Dentistry

Dr. Matt Miller in PPE during COVID-19

“I graduated from the University of Iowa College of Dentistry in 2007, completed a General Practice Residency at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in 2008, and three years of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Naval Medical Center San Diego. I was the infectious disease control officer for three years at the Naval Branch Health Clinic Kings Bay, Kings Bay Georgia.  I have knowledge and training in the etiology and ramifications of infectious diseases, in addition to having first-hand knowledge and a greater understanding during my time in Haiti after the earthquake in 2010. 

I thought I had seen a lot in my career, but the COVID-19 Pandemic was not something I was prepared to fight.  As more and more reports came in on my fellow North Carolinians contracting the virus and the death toll rising, I knew I would soon have to prepare myself and my family for what was to come. I am on Humira which is an immunosuppressive drug, which puts me at increased risk. 

When the decision came from Dr. Lane and his wife that it was no longer safe to provide treatment other than emergent many thoughts came to mind; how are my patients going to get the care they need, if I volunteer to treat emergency patients knowing that I am at higher risk would I become infected or infect my family and how am I going to provide for my family. I knew from my training that this virus was not going to resolve quickly and knew that I needed to come up with a game plan to protect myself, my family and my surgical team while using my knowledge and training to help the Lane & Associate patients with their emergent needs.  

I spoke with Dr. Lane and my personal doctor and decided to forgo the Humira and treat patients. My team and I first made sure that we were all healthy and able to treat patients. Our practice developed protocols to screen patients to ensure they were healthy to treat and that their need was emergent and weighed the risk vs. benefit.  Staff was reduced and we practiced social distancing when possible as ordered by our Governor. From a personal standpoint other than forgoing the Humira, I increased my normal personal protective equipment by using an N95 mask.

I became a dentist to help others maintain and improve their oral health and improve their quality of life, and feel it is my obligation to treat emergent patients at this current time.” 

Learn more about Dr. Miller here | Find out ways we are helping during COVID-19

Dr. Huyen-Chau Dunn, Board Certified Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon in Raleigh and Durham

Dr. Dunn during COVID-19

“I am a board-certified Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon who attended dental school at New York University and then accomplished my oral surgery residency within the Air Force.  I have trained for protection against chemical warfare in protective (MOPP 4) gear for hours at end, I have flown in an F-16, I have accomplished long surgeries to debride and reconstruct soldiers wounded in war or patients with pathology, I have extracted more teeth than I can count and even replaced some of them with dental implants, but the challenge I face now is staying at home.  

Because of the ongoing pandemic, I have limited my practice to only treating emergent/urgent cases to help alleviate our already overtaxed emergency departments nationwide.  As such, I have been doing postoperative follow-ups and evaluations of potential emergency cases via video conferences with patients. Granted, teledentistry is limited in that I cannot touch the patient for a thorough examination, but it lets me determine if I need to bring the patient into the office for potential treatment versus conservative medical management.  

On a personal level, I have great respect for stay-at-home moms/dads, which is essentially what I have become.  The challenge is creating a routine for my 10-year-old daughter, Mai, and some form of normalcy while my husband, who is an emergency medicine physician working tirelessly on the “frontlines” of this pandemic to care for the sick and dying.  We do online schoolwork and music lessons with her piano teacher. Things that I normally did alone in the past for the sake of time efficiency, I now accomplish with her; we prepare meals and bake treats to distribute to neighbors, laundry, cleaning, gardening/mowing, but we also do fun things like art, board games, watch movies, take walks, and play with our dogs.  Whatever we do, we take time to enjoy each other’s company.” 

Find out more about Dr. Dunn here | Visit our COVID-19 Updates page

Crystal Jackson, Hygienist from Lane & Associates Fuquay-Varina

Hygienist with family during COVID-19

“To my wonderful patients,

I hope you all are staying safe, healthy, and finding lots to do at home. I miss you all so much. I was really looking forward to seeing some of you in March and April. This pandemic has changed so much for so many of us and I pray it is over sooner than expected. Until we can see each other again, remember to practice excellent home care as we often talk about. 

Some Tips during COVID-19:

  1. Brush 2x a day for 2 minutes.
  2. Floss daily and continue to use a fluoride mouth rinse daily! 
  3. Change your toothbrush every 3-4 months. If you get sick, change your toothbrush immediately! 
  4. Try to keep hydrated with only water throughout the day to keep your sugar intake down and your teeth happy.

My family and I are doing well, thankfully we are all healthy and trying to do our part by staying home. Except for visiting the grocery store, we have been home! Lots of cooking, cleaning, and playing outside has taken place. I really miss going out to eat, cookouts with friends, watching my boys play baseball, and their school! Today we started virtual school with my fourth and second grader and it went pretty well, so thankful for amazing teachers. Every afternoon I have a video chat with my 4 best friends and that has been so nice as we are helping each other get through this. I encourage you to have a video chat with a friend or two. 🙂

I cannot wait to see my patients again soon and find out how you all are doing during this challenging time. I think about you often! We will get through this. I am dreaming about the day I can go back to work to treat my patients and the boys’ school opens back up. Although, I am sure I miss their school more than they do. Haha

I love you all. Looking forward to seeing you soon. Stay safe!

Sending many prayers!

Your Dental Hygienist”

Learn more about Lane & Associates during COVID-19 | Contact our offices

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Congratulations to Dr. Raleigh Wright!

On Monday, August 5th Dr. Raleigh Wright was sworn into office as an officer for the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners. We are so proud of his amazing accomplishment and look forward to his term as an officer! Take a peek at some of our photos and videos of the induction below.

Dr. Raleigh Wright raising hand for induction ceremony
Dr. Raleigh Wright reciting his Oath of Office for the NC Dental Board

So, what is the NC State Board of Dental Examiners?

The purpose of the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners is to ensure that the dental profession merit and receive the confidence of the public and that only qualified persons be permitted to practice dentistry and dental hygiene in the state of North Carolina.

NC State Board of Dental Examiners Logo

Other functions of the Dental Board:

  1. The administration of Licensure Examinations for dentists and hygienists.
  2. The promulgation of rules and enforcement of laws and regulations governing the practice of dentistry and dental hygiene in this state.
  3. The issuance and renewal of licenses to dentists and dental hygienists.

You can read more about the NC Dental Board by visiting their website here.

To learn more about Dr. Raleigh Wright, please visit his doctor’s page on our website. Congratulations Dr. Wright!!

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Check out the Latest CBCT Magazine Issue!

Our Dental Sleep Medicine & TMJ department including Practice Manager Mallory Harris, Dr. Andy Ciesielski, Dr. Mike DesRosiers, and Dr. Don Lane presented information regarding Sleep Apnea and TMJ treatment to CBCT Magazine in their June 2019 Issue.

Read about the latest information regarding CBCT (Cone Beam Computed Technology) which is a way by which our doctors can more easily evaluate a key factor in Obstructive Sleep Apnea, which is the airway itself. According to Dr. Ciesielski, utilizing CBCT can be, “a game-changer for the dental sleep clinician who is willing to implement the technology in their day to day practice.”

Using Cone Beam Computed Technology Scans at Lane & Associates

TMD (Temporomandibular Disorder) and Sleep Apnea can often go undiagnosed. This new CBCT system is very beneficial to the patients themselves. According to Mallory Harris, this gives something tangible that patients can visualize. Lane & Associates prides itself on being on the forefront of advanced dental & medical technology which includes our CBCT scans. According to Dr. Don Lane, “A large part of our practice is treating TMD associated disorders…Since we have added the CBCT in our office I feel that we have the ability to really fill in the blanks for these patients and show them a beautiful 3D presentation of exactly what is going on with them.”

To learn more about our Sleep Apnea Treatment or TMJ Treatment at Lane & Associates, please schedule a consultation or call us at (919) 285-0882.

Hear more about our TMJ patients and their testimonials from our Raleigh Neuse office with Dr. DesRosiers.

Learn more about Lane & Associates | Contact Us Today

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Mother’s Day is truly a time to reflect on moments with our moms. And of course, “moms” can come in all shapes, sizes, and descriptions – from Mothers, Stepmothers, Grandmothers, to even our friends that are the “mom” of the group! We at Lane & Associates and NCOSO treasure these moms of our lives and wanted to take a moment this Mother’s Day to ask some of our employees what being a mom means to them. Take a look at their responses below!

Raleigh Team member, Kim,  at her baby shower in May!

Responses from our Team:

From Leigh-Anne…

“Being a mom is the biggest blessing. To have an innocent child that God created just for you to care for and they depend on you for everything. Lawson looks and smiles at me and my heart skips beats!”

Clinical Administrator LeighAnne Ennis and her son Lawson.

From Natisha…

“A mom means being a doctor, a lawyer, and a referee. A mom means finding something else worth living for outside of yourself. A mom means sharing a never-ending stream of love with another person that does not ever change or waiver, that’s unconditional!”

Greensboro Office Manager, Natisha Webb-Peterson and her four beautiful children.

From Heather…

“Being a Mom is by far my greatest blessing! The best part about motherhood is the unconditional, rewarding love that exists between my sons and I. Becoming a Mom has taught me to love harder than I ever have and to stop and appreciate the beautiful things in life I previously took for granted.”

Clinical Supervisor, Heather Barefoot’s two sons: Braxton and Trevor.

From Kelley…

“Being a mom is LOVE. From the selfless acts of carrying and giving birth to being the provider of a child’s wants and needs, is the very essence of what love means. To lay down one’s own life is undeniably the most beautiful gift. From the sweetest smiles, the brightest eyes, and the cutest giggles that fill your life with happiness and joy. Knowing that they too, one day will know how to feel and express love is in return the greatest gift anyone could receive.

So… if I boiled this all down, it’s like I gave myself the most expensive, greatest gifts one could ever receive!”

Marketing Department Employee Kelley Isaac with her children, Hampton and Etta.

From Lilly…

“Bedtime snuggles are my favorite part of my day. When we all are winding down and getting ready for bed. Reading books and telling stories. There is nothing that lights up my heart more than when my son asks for me to tell a bedtime story. They always start with “Once upon a time there was a dragon named Declan and a unicorn named Aurora” Or “a dinosaur named Declan and a pony named Aurora.” The stories always end with hugs and kisses. His baby sister waving and saying “byyyeeee.” Just the image is enough to make my heart full.

It’s like by the end of the night when they both are asleep, I can’t remember that my 4-year-old son purposely dumped his juice on the carpet. Or that his 2-year-old sister somehow got sour cream in her hair. But its like motherhood is a paradox. It can be messy and gross. But it can also be sweet and beautiful.

There is one thing I have learned since becoming a mother and it’s “there’s no love like a mother’s love.”

Marketing Department Employee Lilly Holcomb’s children: Declan and Aurora.

From Stephanie…

“Motherhood is sort of like a roller coaster.   The thrills, the twists, the turns…

As my children become adults I have quickly realized that being a mom does not stop at 18 years old.  They still need me, even if they don’t know it!  Being a mom does not mean perfection…mistakes are made…lessons learned, but I do know that my children will always know they were loved deeply.  If I could offer one piece of advice, Love hard, laugh a lot, and be involved as much as possible.”

Marketing Director Stephanie Klein’s children: Abby, Jacob, and Dominique.

 

Thank you to all of our employees and patients who are Moms. We hope you have a beautiful Mother’s Day filled with love!

Learn more about Lane & Associates | Contact Us

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