2021 Dental Assistants Recognition Week seal with a heart tooth and ADAA acronym

Where would we be without the incredible dental assistants in our life?

For all they do to enhance patient satisfaction and strengthen the dental practice (and a million other reasons), it seems fitting to celebrate them yearound. Get started during #DentalAssistantRecognitionWeek

Why not plan extra excitement – and the celebrity treatment — beginning Monday?



Next week, March 7-13 is designated Dental Assistant Recognition Week™ by the American Dental Assistants Association.


“Dental Assistants – Our Heart Goes Into Every Smile” is the American Dental Assistants Association (ADAA)  theme for 2021 and acknowledges the growing importance of dentistry’s role in health care and the responsibilities of dental assistants.

Dental Assistant Recognition Week™ (also known as DARW™) is held the first full week in March every year in the U.S. and Canada. Dentist will celebrate by honoring their dental assistants for all they do to help provide patients with quality dental care. Schools can get in the spirit, too.

Ready for a few suggestions to make Dental Assistants Recognition Week special?

Nominate a dental assistant for a 2021 Lucy Hobbs Project Award

Margaret Fickess RDA, CDA, M.ED. was honored in 2017 with Lucy Hobbs Project Innovator Award.

Be inspired by Margaret Fickess, RDA, CDA, M.ED, who was honored with The Lucy Hobbs Project Innovator Award in 2017.

Visit TheLucyHobbsProject.com, powered by Benco Dental to learn more about the awards and make the most of its free membership.

Nominate an outstanding member of your team today by clicking here: https://www.judgify.me/LHP-nominations2021


Spotlight your dental team members via social media.

Social media offers a chance to spotlight your dental team members. Here are a few examples using social media, and more can be found at Dental Assistants Recognition Week website,  https://www.adaausa.org/DARW 

1. Create an Event Page on Facebook:

  • Title the event specifically for your group, for example: “[Your Dental Practice] Celebrates Dental Assistants Recognition Week 2021” or “DARW 2021 at [Your Dental School],” and include the start and end dates for the event to correspond with DARW.
  • Invite friends and fans, and makes it easy for them to share event information with their friends and fans.
  • If your practice, school or group has plans to do something different over multiple days during DARW, be sure to post status updates at least once per day with a short description of what you did to celebrate.
  • TIP: Don’t forget to tag people, your practice and/or your group in photos, videos and status updates.


2. Get visual with Instagram!

  • Post images showing how Day 1 of DARW was celebrated, Day 2, Day 3 and so forth;
  • Post photos that give an “inside look at a day in the life of a dental assistant”; or show people how dental assisting students spent the day volunteering at a clinic.
  • TIP: Use keywords and phrases such as “DARW 2021” and “Dental Assistants Recognition Week 2021” to make sure your photos show up in any searches for DARW material on IG.

Visit the Dental Assistants Recognition Week website,  https://www.adaausa.org/DARW to download:

  • a 2021 DARW Kit,
  • promotional materials,
  • sample proclamations,
  • sample press releases,
  • social media tips, and more.

Suggestions for honoring assistants and participating in this year’s event are available in the the kit and it also includes information about products to demonstrate pride in the profession and ways to share DARW news through social and traditional media outlets.


Put the dental assistants at your practice in the national spotlight.

Dental Assistants are invited to submit a description of their celebratory activities to the ADAA journal, The Dental Assistant. Selected submissions will be published in a 2021 issue of the journal.

Find the latest innovations to make the workday seamless for dental assistants on your team here

The post Three days and counting to Dental Assistant Recognition Week™ appeared first on The Daily Floss Blog | Benco Dental.