March 2008 Newsletter

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“Restoration Selection for the Aesthetically Driven General Practice”
Featured Speaker: John C. Cranham, DDS

Dr. John C. Cranham has a contemporary dental practice in Chesapeake, Virginia, focusing on cosmetic, restorative and implant services. Dr. Cranham is an honors graduate of the Medical College of Virginia, where he continues to teach as an Associate Clinical Professor. Dr. Cranham is an internationally recognized speaker on the Esthetic Principles of Smile Design, Contemporary Occlusal Concepts, Treatment Planning, Restoration Selection, Digital Photography, Laboratory Communication, and Happiness and Fulfillment in Dentistry.
One of the most important decisions we make in every treatment plan is to choose a material that will solve the esthetic, functional and biologic needs of our patient. This 70 minute evening presentation will provide each participant a programmed approach to restoration selection within their practice. Stacked porcelain, pressed ceramics, metal ceramics, chairside and laboratory fabricated CAD-CAM restorations, and Gold restorations will be covered in detail. Learning to choose the correct restorative material for a variety of clinical situations will be the cornerstone of this presentation.

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President's Message - Dr. James Courey

This month I have reflected on what it means to be a “life member” of our dental society. To receive the honor of lifetime membership, a dental professional needs be an active participant for at least thirty years. Amazingly this year, we recognized six dentists who have earned the distinction of lifetime members. Thirty years ago, they recognized the importance and value of joining the ADA, NJDA and MCDS, not only for the continuing education opportunities and camaraderie of colleagues, but also for the vital advocacy this large group provides its members. Today, more than ever, there are so many reasons and benefits to belong to organized dentistry. We now have services like Law-line, which saves members a fortune on attorney’s fees by having the Executive Director of NJDA, Arthur Meisel, Esq., available for advice to members with only a phone call. Mr. Meisel recently represented a dentist, and brought suit against an insurance company who refused to pay money owed for treatment provided. This type of high quality benefit has no additional cost for members and provides dentists with legal assistance in an accessible manner.
Members are provided the ease of computerized tracking of CE courses, membership updates and online registration of national, state and local meetings. High quality continuing education and mentor programs are offered to members at a fraction of the cost of comparable courses elsewhere. Our Governmental Affairs and PAC representatives keep us up to date on the latest initiatives in Trenton and they continue to fight for organized dentistry in a very bureaucratic system. Another member benefit is discounts on various insurance products and travel services; NJDA endorsers often offer significant discounts to goods and services. Today, we have many more benefits and advantages than our life members had years ago. Despite this, these pioneers recognized the value of organized dentistry and joined. Their leadership and perseverance provides us a model to emulate and contributes to the success of MCDS today.

2/12/2008

Attendance: Ashmen, Chustckie, Courey, Glickman, Kahn, Prabhu, Savage, Schambra, Silverstein, Stein, Marlene Glickman
Acceptance of Minutes-vote unanimous.
President’s Report-James Courey
Treasurer’s Report-Robert Ashmen
See full report on page 3.
Secretary’s Report-Maya Prabhu
The Board unanimously voted to nominate Dr Harmon Katz for the Sy Symanski Lifetime Acheivement Award. The nomination will be forwarded to Art Meisel.
Website Editor’s Report-Bob Silverstein
Online registration for all courses/events that we offer will now be available on our web site.
Program Chairperson’s Report-Constantine Simos
The theme for staff night this year will be “Casino Night”. I have obtained a quote from Moonwalk Entertainment and I will also obtain a quote from another company. We have 25 registrants for the full day CE course on 3/19. A promotional mailing for the course is going out this week. On April 15th, Dr. Thomas R. Flynn will deliver the Sy Symanski Memorial Lecture.
Executive Secretary Report-Marlene Glickman
The Dental Shadowing Program has been working out very well for those students who have chosen to participate. We are working on forming a partnership with the Chandler Health Center in New Brunswick so that Rutgers students can do their dental shadowing at their facility as well as at individual offices. I am pleased to report that additional dentists have volunteered to be part of the program. If you would like to be one of the dentists to allow a Rutgers student to shadow at your office, please contact Marlene Glickman @ 732-238-1255.
Currently, there are about 27 people signed up for the Cranham course on March 19th. You can register by mail or on line at www.MCDSofNJ.org
NJDA Council Reports:
Dental Education-Bob Ashmen
Council members were well-received at the School Councelor Association meeting in Long Branch in October 2007. Representatives for our council were present to promote careers in dental assisting. We will be receiving brochures promoting dental assisting to disseminate to school counselors in an effort to raise awareness in this career. The council will be selecting the Fall 2008 Weekend Study Club speakers and the recipients of the 2008 Dental Assistant Scholarships in the next 2 months. Any NJDA members interested in speaking at the Weekend Study Club should submit a lecture outline and CV to Arlene Dam at NJDA.
Governmental and Public Affairs-Mitch Weiner
See full report on page 7.
Membership-Tara Savage
NJDA had a net increase in membership for the 8th consecutive year, with
more than 4,800 members currently. The number of non-renewals dropped from 145 in 2006 to 74 in 2007 due to the increased efforts by the NJDA staff, including personal phone calls and letters. In 2005, Tricia DeCotiis began visiting GPR programs in order to promote membership to dental residents. Since then, the percentage of licensed graduate students who are not members has dropped from 20.2% to 13%. Last year, NJDA received the ADA award for the state association with the highest membership retention rate among states of comparable size. At the last Board of Trustees meeting the “Call a Non-member a Month” program was approved. Each Board member and each council on membership will be assigned 12 non-members to call during 2008. Dental Expo Day at UMDJ will take place on March 19, 2008. NJDA will be giving a presentation to the senior dental students on how to get their dental licenses and transitioning into practice. They will visit the seniors again in May to fill out membership applications. The Bank of America will sponsor a “New Dentist Conference” for dentists in practice 10 years or less. It will be held on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at the NJDA meeting in Atlantic City. The 2008 NJDA directories have been mailed out.
Committee Reports:
Mentor-Ethan Glickman
Our bi-annual OSHA program that satisfies the OSHA standard on Occupational Exposure to Blood Borne Pathogens, which is required annually for dentists and staff will be given on June 19, 2008. Each office person will receive certification that they have been properly instructed for this OSHA regulation on Infection Control. Two CEU credits will be awarded to the staff members attending this 2-hour seminar. This seminar is available to our members for $20/pp as a member benefit of MCDS. A big “Thank You” to Dr. Joe Fertig for arranging all our room accommodations for the MCDS-OSHA programs at St. Peter’s Medical Center in New Brunswick.
The Central New Jersey Dental Hygiene Study Club will meet on February 13, 2008. Sponsored by Middlesex County Dental Society, MCDS hygienists meet at the Clarion Hotel, Rte 27 South, Edison NJ. Dr. Arnold Rosenheck will present a seminar, “Oral Manifestations of Diseases of Local and Systemic Etiology” at the next meeting. Two CEU credits will be awarded for the meeting. This CNJDH study club is available to our hygienists as a Dentist-member benefit of MCDS.
Please contact Marlene Glickman, our Exec.Sect’y for MCDS, at # 732-238-1255 for additional information and registration in advance for either program.
Oral Cancer Screening-Constantine Simos (Middlesex County liaison to the Oral Cancer Workgroup )
I attended the most recent meeting on February 4th. On Thursday, June 12th, NJDA will be sponsoring an Oral Cancer Screening at the Statehouse to promote awareness of oral cancer screening and oral health. I will be at the screening along with Drs. Rosenheck and Lederman and other dentists from the Workgroup.
Old Business
Dr Richard Kahn made a motion to organize emails and fax numbers of MCDS members to be used for dissemination of information as needed by the executive board. This was seconded by Dr Prabhu. Motion passed.
The issue of the NJ dental school combining some of its CE courses with MCDS at their Newark facility is still open for discussion.
New Business
The Middlesex County college Hygiene Program has shown interest in participating in the Central NJ Hygiene Study Club. An ad hoc committee has been set up to look into this further and bring their recommendations back to the Board.
Respectfully Submitted, Maya Prabhu