April 2001 Newsletter

Welcome to the April edition of the MCDS newsletter. This month, I would like to discuss a topic that was brought up at our last trustee’s meeting: the scarcity of dentists entering the teaching profession at our country’s dental schools. Apparently this has reached crisis proportions, as a large percentage of our current dental school professors approach retirement with hardly any dental students or younger graduates looking to enter the teaching profession. This is especially critical at those institutions that have relied heavily on retired military dentists for faculty positions, where because of armed forces staff cutbacks, there is a greatly diminished pool of ex-military talent to draw from. This has also had a great impact on VA hospitals, which often depend on ex-military dentists to staff their clinics and teach in their post-graduate programs.
The consequences of this shortage may not be obvious, however they are ominous. Fine, it may result in the closure of more dental schools, which may sound like a dividend at first glance. However, the implications of this quickly become more transparent: As our own generation of dentists grays, fewer dentists entering the field results in a downsized profession. The voice and lobbying power we need to protect our profession and patients shrinks. Because there are not enough qualified dental educators, the quality of our graduates suffers and ultimately the prestige of our profession takes a serious hit. And on a more selfish note, with fewer new dentists entering the profession, who will purchase our practices when we wish to retire? Furthermore, even if you can find someone to purchase your practice, given the precarious outlook for dental schools, will you be able to trust that person to continue the quality standards of care you have worked so many years to establish?
I believe this problem can be solved in one of two ways:
1) Declare war on somebody. This would have to be a really big war, one that would last several years. This would result in a huge increase in military personnel and spending, which would be sure to produce a windfall of military exes hunting for dental school positions when peace again rules the day. While this scenario is highly unlikely, given our current administration it is definitely something we might want to keep in the back of our minds.
2) Pay faculty what they deserve and offer job security (a better choice). Let’s face it, hardly any of us entered this profession with the goal of becoming full time employees of a dental school. Neither the salary nor the job security is adequate, especially when so many graduates are coming out of school with six-figure debts. Simply put, our dental schools must make teaching attractive enough if they hope to divert graduates away from private practice. This means paying faculty what they deserve, plus the incentive of earning further income via intramural faculty practices. It also means guaranteed contracts, so if a faculty member is denied tenure, the dental school must buy out the remainder of his/her contract, ensuring that the

dentist is well enough funded to pursue a position at another institution or move completely into private practice. It might also mean recruiting students while they are in dental school, similar to the military. This program would pay for the student’s tuition if he/she commits to a position in dental education for a prescribed period after graduating (again, with the requisite competitive salary). Furthermore, even if our dental schools adopt such programs, there must be curricula in place to train these people how to be effective teachers.
In essence, there must be a paradigm shift in the hiring philosophy of our teaching institutions if they are to attract new, younger, qualified faculty. Is it fair to ask us to come back to these schools and offer our services at a wholesale rate and with no job security when these same institutions thought nothing of charging us retail (or greater) to educate us? My answer to our pleading educators is to “get real and enter the realm of reality.” Offer what I have proposed (short of starting a war) and potential educators will not walk, they will run to your doors and fight to get in. Your pleas for faculty will no longer fall on deaf ears and the future of our profession will have a firm footing.
Sincerely,
Charles Bloom, President

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Attendance: Bloom, Brunsden, Chustckie, DeScisco, Fahsbender, Fertig, Glickman, Huberman, Kahn, Katz, Kline, Krantz, Leizer, McLaughlin, Prabhu, Rosen, Villa, Weiner
Acceptance of Minutes-2/13/01-vote unanimous.
President’s Report-C. Bloom
• An appeal was made to find a volunteer to take Phil Engel’s place as a representative on Annual Session Council.
• The board nominated Dr. Jerome Engel for the Sy Symanski Lifetime Achievement Award. The winner of this award will be announced at the House of Delegates meeting at the Annual Session.
• Paper work to set-up a money market checking account at Magyar Savings will be completed at tonight’s board meeting. The account should be active within the next two weeks.
ADA Delegate Report-J. Leizer
The MCDS component unanimously voted to make contribution of $2000 towards the campaign of Henry Finger, who is running for ADA president elect.
NJDA Council Reports:
NJDA Trustee Report-D. Krantz
MCDS Executive Board feels that the loan guarantee given by the NJDA Board of Trustees was inappropriate and should not be given in the future.
Special Olympics-C. Brunsden
At the Annual Session there will be a Special Olympics Auction where members are asked to donate items that can be auctioned off with proceeds to support NJDA’s sponsorship of the Special Olympics. Members are asked to contact Dr. Dick Riva if they have items to donate, such as art objects, theater tickets, décor items, and any other item that might command a price at auction
MCDS Committee Reports:
Children’s Dental Health Month-C. Brunsden
• Tickets from the NJDA are available to the circus on Sunday, March 18th
• Nurse’s Night will take place at the Dental Plaza, April 18th at 6:30 P.M.
• Certificates will be awarded to the winners of the Poster Contest at the East Brunswick High School on Tuesday, April 24th
Governmental Affairs-H. Katz
See full report in newsletter
Membership Council-G. Livanos
NJDA will publish a new membership directory each year. Dues payments must be up to date to be included. Non-member dentists will be invited to join NJDA in order to be included in our website directory which is frequently accessed by the public when looking for a new dentist.
Mentor-E. Glickman
The Mentor Committee has arranged four seminars for the year 2001:
• On Thursday evening, February 8, 2001, we will be presenting “Transitional Implants and the Construction of Immediate Restorations.” The Dentatus USA Company is sponsoring the program. The speaker for this presentation will be Mr. Howard Cliff. This will be a hands-on program with ALL materials supplied by the Dentatus USA Company. Two CEU credits will be awarded for this course. This seminar will be made available to our members free of charge, as a member benefit of MCDS.
• On Thursday evening, March 29, 2001, we will be presenting “Off the Shelf Dental Digital Imaging.” The speaker for this program will be Dr. Martin Jablow. Both beginners and techies will learn the latest technology from hardware to web pages and computer imaging. This presentation will show you how to use these technologies with off the shelf products thus saving you thousands of dollars. Digital imaging helps the patient understand and accept treatment while helping the dentist treatment plan the case. You will be amazed to discover that you can do digital computer imaging for less than $100 using your family’s camcorder. Two CEU credits will be awarded for this course. This seminar will be made available to our members free of charge, as a member benefit of MCDS.
• On Thursday evening April 12, 2001, we will be presenting “Lasers in Dentistry.” Topics covered in this course will be Laser history, physics & mechanics, case presentations and clinical applications followed by Q. & A. The speaker for this seminar is Dr. William Fromkin of North Brunswick, NJ. Two CEU credits will be awarded for this presentation. This seminar will be made available to our members free of charge, as a member benefit of MCDS.
• Our fourth program will be our “Annual OSHA Seminar.” We will present this course on Thursday evening May 10, 2001, at St. Peters Medical Center. This program will satisfy the OSHA standard on Occupational Exposure to Blood Borne Pathogens, which is required annually for dentists and staff. Each office person trained will receive certification that they have been properly instructed for this OSHA regulation on Infection Control. Two CEU credits will be awarded for all those attending the seminar. The fee for this required OSHA seminar will be $15 per person and the instructor is Joyce Koenig, RNC, APIC.
Contact Marlene, our MCDS Executive Secretary at 732 -238-1255 if you have any questions regarding these exciting programs.
See Registration Forms for these programs inside this newsletter.

Respectfully submitted,
Mitch Weiner, DMD, Secretary

• A status report was provided about a dentist against whom a complaint was filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey by the Director of the Department of Consumer Affairs alleging a violation of the Consumer Fraud Act. After a 15 day trial before a Superior Court Judge and a cost of a million dollars to the State, the Court found that the witnesses for the State, who claimed there was coercion and duress in connection with the financing of dental treatment, were not credible. Accordingly, the complaint was dismissed.
• The State Board explained further that a dentist could dispense narcotics to a patient in connection with dental treatment but could not sell narcotics. However, the State Board is looking into whether dentists should be able to sell those medications. A dentist cannot prescribe for himself or write a prescription except for a patient in connection with dental treatment. Also the dentist should write a note in his chart as to what he prescribed and why.
• The President reported that NJDA took part in the search for a dean at UMDNJ. Dr. Cecile Feldman was appointed Dean of the Dental School.
• Dr. Steven F. Eisen will serve as Chairman of the Council on Annual Session and General Chairman of MADE, NJDA's Annual Session through the end of the Annual Session in 2002.
• Mr. Meisel reported to the Board on the settlement of the property tax appeal. For the 1999 calendar year, the property assessment will be lowered to a level that will result in an $8500. refund to be received as a credit on the taxes for the year 2000. In 2001 and forward, there will be a further downward adjustment in our property assessment. We will pay $17,000 less in property taxes for 2001 that will remain going forward. Our obligation to the attorney will be to pay 1/3 of $8500 for one year and 1/3 of $17,000 for the next two years. The settlement agreement must be signed by the Tax Court. As an aside, the work on the roof will not be viewed as an improvement for property tax purposes.
• The Diamond Club Night at the Races will be held on May 2, 2001 at the Pegasus at Meadowlands.
• Mr. Meisel discussed the ruling by the appellate division against the NJDA on the PIP fee case. A brief is being prepared to request the NJ Supreme Court to take the case.
• Mr. Clark reported on the proposed Medicaid fee increases, for dentistry in the FY 2002 budget. A total of 26.9 million additional funding would be available.
• Mr. Clark reported on NJDA's Assignment of Benefit Legislation. Members are calling Assemblywoman Vandervalk's office to request that the bill be posted.
• "Right to Sue" legislation has passed unanimously in the Senate. The measure is now in the Assembly Health Committee and should be done in the early spring.
• Mr. Clark will meet with Delta Dental, MetLife and the chair of the Assembly Banking and Insurance Committee on the Medical/Dental Claims Payment Responsibility Act. Dental plans are trying to get carved out of this bill.
• Mr. Clark also reported on the Paid Family Leave bill. This new piece of legislation would provide employees with up to 3 months paid leave. COGA voted unanimously to oppose the bill.
• The State Board of Dentistry has two dental board openings. Council members were asked to consider component members they feel would be good candidates and to gauge their interest in serving.

With our Board’s approval, I recently moved our web site to a new web hosting service. Previously, our site was hosted by Batnet within the same site as NJDA’s web site. With the new service, I have direct access to scripts such as “hit counters” and to the server logs to know which pages are being viewed the most. I will also be able to upload changes to the site much more efficiently (it used to take about a week to get changes posted to the site). We also now have our own domain name, www.MCDSofNJ.org. There are “non-member” and “members only” sections. To access the members only section, use the login name “mcds” and the password “sy.” (no period at the end of the web address or “sy”). The members only section contains the latest information on our general meetings, course listings and registration forms, pictures from the meetings, pictures and information on the speakers, the latest newsletter, our bylaws, information on the video library at St. Peters (to which ADA members have free access), an archival section with past newsletters, budgets, officer nominations, and much more. Please visit the site and give me your feedback.
-Bob Silverstein, Web Site Editor

MCDS members may attend general meetings of all component societies in the state and receive continuing education credit for the program (course) portion of the evening. Component Societies are providing this feature as a benefit of membership. Individuals wishing to purchase dinner must reserve prior to the meeting by calling the contact person indicated. A complete listing of programs can be found in the members only CE section of the NJDA website (www.njda.org). Be advised that programs involving NJDA officers and staff may not be eligible for credit. Licensees may utilize 7 credits per licensing cycle in practice management courses.

MCDS Web Site — Our web site has all of the latest MCDS news, as well as archives of past newsletters and useful links. You can reach the site through NJDA’s component section (http://www.njda.org/member/02_components/middlesex). Contact Diane Davis at NJDA at 821-9400 or [email protected] for a user name and password.
MCDS Video Library — at St. Peter’s Hospital. All you need is a valid ADA membership card to access the extensive video collection.
Lawline — Remember LAWLINE if you have a legal question related to your dental practice. As a continuing member benefit, NJDA’s General Counsel, Arthur Meisel, Esq. and Assistant Counsel Patricia DeCotiis, Esq. are always available to confer, at no cost, with members.
If you have a question or need assistance, call Mr. Meisel at (732) 422-2730 or Patricia DeCotiis at (732) 422-2717 or send them a fax at (732) 821-1082.
Discounted hotel rates are available to ADA members at selected hotels in Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. For specific hotels and rates, call ADA at 312-440-2500 extension 2853.
Members who join Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom Club receive discounts at Disney hotels, resorts, and stores and on Disney cruises. Membership in the Magic Kingdom Club is free to ADA members. For more information, call ADA at 312-440-2500 extension 2582.
Hertz offers ADA members money-saving rates on car rentals in the United States and Canada, as well as bonus coupons throughout the year. For more information, call ADA extension 2923.

April 2001 Newsletter

President's Message

MCDS Board of Trustees Report

Treasurer's Report

NJDA Board of Trustees Report

Membership News

Articles

Announcements

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