Celebrating a Successful 2018
December is a traditional time for reflecting on accomplishments of the year. At the risk of sounding like a holiday letter, it has been a pretty good year!
AAE18 in Denver was a great success, one of our best ever. By the important measures of professional content, social events and fiscal results, it was a most satisfying annual meeting. Stand by for another fun, productive and enlightening annual meeting in Montréal, April 10-13, 2019.
Continuing education opportunities have been a mainstay of the year. We had a great collaboration with the International Association of Dental Trauma to co-host the World Congress on Dental Traumatology in San Diego in August and provided an Insight Track meeting on surgical endodontics in Chicago in November, both of which gained positive reviews from attendees. We have another Insight Track on CBCT at Lake Tahoe in January that promises to be enlightening and entertaining.
Last April, the ABE presented 108 new Diplomate pins in Denver, and this year we are on track to present 150 in Montréal. Many thanks to the College of Diplomates for their mentorship, advice and encouragement – it is working. The hard work of the directors of the ABE to process and deliver record numbers of case portfolios and oral exams is greatly appreciated and very effective. Congratulations to all who have completed the path to Board Certification. You are making our specialty stronger and better. Best wishes to the 634 who are currently in the process.
AAE Connection continues to grow, thanks to a core group of individuals who consistently provide positive, interesting discussion topics.
Along with all of the good things that have been happening, there are still those who try to use long-debunked junk science to try and rain on our parade. Focal infection theory advocates have resurfaced in an Australian video that shall remain unnamed in this space. Rather than fight it directly, we are advocating for members to respond with positive, science-based information from the AAE website. Please see “Root Canal Safety” under Clinical Resources at aae.org. Use this as an opportunity to tout the health benefits of endodontic care. Saving teeth is what we do.
The ADA and CODA have been removing the terms associated with “specialty” or “specialist” from their materials and guidance. We have been opposing this, as we feel that the public understands specialty status and is better served by continued use. We will continue to advocate for organized dentistry to take a strong position on adequate training to claim expertise in any field of the profession.
And so as 2018 comes to a close, we remain strong and steadfast, and I can’t wait to see what we accomplish in 2019. With an exciting new consumer engagement initiative set to launch soon, I can assure you it’s going to be anything but ordinary in the world of saving teeth.
I hope that everyone has every reason to celebrate many successes in your personal and professional lives this year. Happy Holidays!