President’s Message – July 2023

Summer is a time when endodontics welcomes new residents to fifty-eight CODA-accredited endodontic programs across the United States and Canada. The Foundation for Endodontics welcomes you to the best specialty in dentistry! As the president of the Foundation, I am happy to you share with you our mission of supporting endodontic research, education, outreach and engagement. We raise funds to support our specialty. You, your faculty, your school and your community can all be beneficiaries of Foundation support. I encourage you to get involved early and give back to your specialty!  

As a new resident, you may think you are too busy or do not know the path to be involved. You may question the benefit of being engaged in your specialty. I assure you: involvement with endodontics will give you increased purpose in your career, provide a sense of community, inspire you to be a better endodontist and person, and motivate you to give back and pay homage to your mentors.  

The Foundation provides an opportunity for residents to join the Resident Expert Advisory Council, or REACH. REACH members gather twice a year to share ideas and brainstorm to help elevate our specialty. REACH was the group that inspired the Foundation to support outreach programs to save teeth. I also encourage you to join the Friends for the Foundation. This special group helps fundraise so the Foundation can support our grant programs.  

The Foundation supports domestic and international outreach programs in which residents and mentors can participate. Our domestic program is grant-based. Any AAE member can submit a grant application to provide endodontic treatment to patients in need. This could be a project that you, as a resident, can lead to save teeth in a community that is underserved. Past recipients of the domestic access to care grant include Project Home, Wake Smiles, Mercy Clinic and University of Maryland.  

We have partnered with the Christian Dental Society for sixteen trips to Treasure Beach, Jamaica, to save teeth in a community where extraction used to be the only option. Our outreach committee is currently evaluating new international locations to save teeth. For international outreach, the Foundation supports two residents and a mentor so they can provide free endodontic treatment.  

Another path to elevating your specialty and endodontic program is research. The Foundation provides Competitive Research Grants, Resident Research Grants and Annual Meeting Resident Development Scholarships to subsidize your research. 

I encourage you, as you begin your new journey called endodontic residency, to engage with your co-residents and faculty, to explore novel ideas and techniques, to be inquisitive and ask the tough questions and to believe you can elevate your specialty.