The Worth Saving Campaign is a year-round endeavor for the AAE, but the traditional start to this public awareness effort has always been Save Your Tooth Month each May. This year was no exception, and thanks to the hard work of our staff, particularly our Marketing and Communications department, our year started off with a great deal of fanfare. On the evening of May 12, the Prudential Center in Chicago was the backdrop for a spectacular lighting display, promoting the start of Save Your Tooth Month. Earlier that day, the entire staff of the AAE gathered in our office to assemble 2,000 dental care kits that were distributed to Chicago school children through our partnership with the Chicago Mobile Dental Care Foundation.

The message about the importance of saving your natural teeth takes many forms through our campaign. Due to the advocacy efforts of several dedicated members, 12 Governors issued proclamations declaring May to be Save Your Tooth Month in their respective states.  I’m proud to say that Minnesota was among the 12. In addition to our kickoff events, an extensive media pitch resulted in over 20 radio and television interviews that were aimed at educating and encouraging the public to seek treatment options that will help them preserve their natural teeth and educating about the advantages of doing so. The month’s media events included two in-studio on-the-air interviews in Chicago and Minneapolis, pushing me way out of my comfort zone. The content of these interviews included information on symptoms of endodontic disease, seeking emergency care, post-trauma treatment, and how an endodontist is the best person to treat these conditions. Emphasis was also given to making sure that patients inquire about treatment options that would help maintain their natural teeth and not just accept a referral for extraction. The journalists involved were genuinely interested in our message.

Our digital footprint is ever expanding as well with webpages and social media devoted to patient/consumer education, addressing and dispelling misinformation, and providing patient resources. The AAE has also engaged in influencer partnerships to help spread our message about the benefits of preserving natural teeth.  A link to the recently released study from King’s College in London regarding the systemic health benefits of endodontic treatment garnered more than 144 million media impressions, introducing the public to science-based evidence that root canal treatment can have a positive effect on one’s whole-body health status.

In addition to the public education resources, there are multiple items available for members to assist you in promoting Save Your Tooth all year long. These include the Whole-Body Benefits webpage, Referral patterns webpage, our new Trauma Guidelines, as well as the Save Your Tooth Month toolkit. Consider sharing these at your local dental society meetings if the opportunity presents itself.

So why are we trying so hard to get our message in front of the public versus the general dental community? Well, those of you old enough to remember our initial public awareness campaign that was directed toward general dentists, you might remember the financial assessment that we all paid to finance that initiative, and you also might remember that it fell completely flat. After the fact, it became apparent that our efforts were misdirected, and we needed to take our message directly to our potential patients, specifically the lay public.

One might think this would seem self-serving since we definitely depend on referrals from our general dentist colleagues, but it was clear that not all general dentists would share the option of seeing an endodontist. Taking our message directly to the patient public has increased the general awareness of endodontists and endodontic treatment, evidenced by our increasing market share of endodontic procedures performed on an annual basis. We are still the only specialty to enjoy this surge in public awareness and demand for specialty care. So I would like to offer thanks on your behalf to Kim, Elisabeth and Rae in our Marketing and Communications department for getting our message out there. So let’s all do our part to propagate that message that teeth are Worth Saving, and that endodontists are just the people to take care of that task.

“So what’s in it for me?” All too often, this is the response one receives when asking someone to join their respective professional association. It is human nature to seek value in our expenditures, but when it comes to membership, one must look not only at the tangible benefits, but also at those less visible attributes to fully understand the value of becoming a member. I learned early on from my dad, who is a general dentist, that members of a profession are responsible for its health and well-being, so if we do not care for it, there are others who will step in and take over in an attempt to control our specialty and regulate our activities. The relative autonomy that we enjoy as a specialty, in addition to our favorable image and respect of the public are due in no small part to some intangible benefits of AAE membership – Advocacy and Marketing/Public Relations.

Association membership amplifies our voices in legislative and regulatory arenas, thus allowing us to protect our ability to practice at the high standards that we have set for ourselves. Likewise, our collective message resonates with greater force in the court of public opinion, educating patients about the value of specialty endodontic care and our unique position as the specialists in saving natural teeth. Long-standing members of an association often cite Advocacy as one of the most important benefits of membership, and I would have to agree.

Of course, not all of the benefits of AAE membership exist in the “intangible cloud”. Many are clearly evident, and some we each make use of on a frequent if not daily basis. A subscription to the Journal of Endodontics is included in your membership, and as one of the premier endodontic journals in the world, it serves as a vital source of information regarding advances and research activities in our specialty. Our AAE Annual Meeting is widely recognized as the top Endodontic conference in the world and serves as a vital source of continuing education presentations. The same can be said for our Fall meeting, Insight Track which is devoted to a specific topic of interest to our specialty and presents top speakers to educate our attendees. Most of these presentations are archived on our remote learning platform, Endo on Demand, so if one is unable to attend, the opportunity for learning still exists. Each of these continuing education resources are available to AAE members at substantial discounts relative to the cost for non-members.

Our meetings also serve another important function in that they provide a venue for camaraderie – a place to catch up with old friends and an opportunity to make new connections. Speaking of connections, another benefit that can be used on a daily basis is the AAE Connection, our online interactive platform. Here, you can engage in discussion forums on various topics with other members to learn more about what others are doing in their practices, or even seek some advice on planning your retirement. The list of topics is only limited by one’s imagination, and of course our Code of Conduct. As an additional incentive, AAE Advantage offers discounted products and services such as insurance plans or financial services to our members through our trusted partners program.

I could continue to list the incentives and benefits of AAE membership, but by now I am sure you get the idea. I also realize that if you are reading this, I am likely preaching to the choir, but this provides a good opportunity to remind everyone of just what your AAE membership can do for you, and what it does for our specialty. So be sure to renew your membership promptly to avoid any lapses, and if you know another endodontist who is not yet a member, encourage them to join so they can take advantage of all of the opportunities and be a part of our collective voice. So now, if you are asked: “What’s in it for me?”, you will know exactly what to tell them. Always remember that we are stronger together.