Dr Messana entered Fairleigh Dickinson University’s six-year Accelerated Dental Program. While at Fairleigh Dickinson he became President of the Tri-Beta Biological Society and President of the Pre-Professional Society. He graduated with a Bachelor’s Science in Biology, Summa Cum Laude. He completed two years of FDU’s Dental School, then transferred to UMDNJ upon the closure of FDU Dental School. Upon graduation, Dr. Messana was inducted into the Omega Kappa Upsilon Honors Society. Dr. Messana obtained the Post- Graduate Certificate in Orthodontics from New York University in 1993. Dr. Messana then went on to do an Orthognathic Fellowship at Bellevue Hospital. Dr Messana has been active in the Dental community of New Jersey. He has served as President of the Hudson County Dental Society, and President of the New Jersey Dental Association.
The purpose of the course is to outline the various types of malocclusions, to look at the relevant research regarding their treatment timing, and to look at clinical cases. There is considerable information, and (sadly) mis-information about the timing, risks and benefits of Orthodontic Treatment. Some malocclusions are better treated early, while others are not. There have been efforts in the scientific community to help us understand the benefits, as well as the risks of early/later treatment. Further, we will look at the adult and see what may be and what may not be possible orthodontically. We will look at Class I crowded cases, crossbites (both anterior and posterior), open bites, canine impaction, Class II and Class III cases, and attempt to come up with guidelines on what, when, and why one initiates Orthodontics.

“What are you doing about the bottom line?”- is an age old question in the business community. There are many accepted principles for improving numerical bottom line and a plethora of resources are available on practice and business management. Everywhere you see you’ll find something enticing, new and straight out of the box that offers and claims to deliver an exclusive premise. However, principles guiding our personal and professional bottom line may vary significantly. We often look up to external guides such as mentors, parents, scholars and how they can help us achieve what we want and reach where we want to be. The options are abundant. Over the past few years of walking through the lanes of such wares, I (still a newbie) find myself speaking more and more to myself, the self that chose Dentistry and Prosthodontics in particular, over all available options, the same self that loved and continues to love and thrive in the education of dental medicine and the practice of it. Allocating time for this introspection on a routine basis has helped me improve my processes as an individual and as a professional. This introspection has enabled me in enhancing the quality of dentistry and care I provide to my patients and at the same time, I have been able to add value to not just my company or the bottom line, but myself. I find that this addition in value through a practice based on moral integrity, continuous learning and the experiences gathered along the journey make us much better individuals than any other outside medium to answer that question.
This summer, the bill for non-covered services was introduced in New Jersey. Jim Schultz and many member dentists across our county and state have been working with state legislators educating them on our justification for these non covered services. Time is “now” to show your support and make/increase your contributions to NJPAC. This will certainly aid in moving this landmark legislation forward and in our favor.
It was an atmosphere filled with excitement and dental chatter, as more than 100 dentists, students and sponsors attended the first meeting of MCDS. Dr. Louis DiPede led us through the pearls of wisdom to enhance the clinical practice of restorative and prosthetic dentistry. I look forward to seeing you at the upcoming general meetings. And to those looking to increase their personal and professional “bottom line”, I invite you to attend the Board of Trustees meeting and become a part of it.

Attendance: Drs. Nainesh Desai, Alyssa Bernstein, Devang Modi, Amit Vora, Bob Silverstein, Richard Kahn, Daniel Kracke, Mark Vitale, Mitch Weiner, Maya Prabhu, Ira Rosen, Deborah Brown, Peter Descisio, Cavan Brunsden, Nancy Villa, Constantine Simos, Genevieve Fernandes, and Marlene Glickman
Acceptance of 5/6/14 Minutes- vote unanimous.
President’s Report-Nainesh Desai
No report.
Treasurer’s Report-Amit Vora
See detailed report on page 3.
Executive Secretary Report-Marlene Glickman
We have a new fax number: 732-764-6200
NJDA Council Reports:
Annual Session-Nainesh Desai
Conference numbers were reviewed. Maureen noted that the no-show number (since this was the first year that packets were held for pick up) warrant establishment of a registration fee, since money and staff resources went into producing 550+ packets for attendees that didn’t come to the conference. 348 NJDA members attended (or about 8% of membership). Dr. Chinoy believed the percentage was similar to attendance at the ADA meeting. Hygiene and assisting numbers were equally low among their membership. Financially, all the numbers are not in, but Stan and Maureen indicated that the conference was likely to break even. Dr. LaMorte noted that overall there was good cooperation from all the specialties at the 2014 meeting and also said Horizon deserved a thank you for sponsoring, especially in light of a slightly lower than expected turnout. Akriti Gupta asked that the specialty program be open to all dental students next year.
Dr. Dzitzer questioned whether the Council on Annual Session in fact needed to exist at all given: a) change from current format; b) other committees taking on some of the work. He suggested that the Council dissolve or go on hiatus or become an advisory board. In his opinion the Council is not longer viable. The new format and possible new role of the Council doesn’t warrant 8 meetings a year. After discussions it was decided that it will be too premature to make any changes in the council’s status.
2015 Conference
1) Projected Time-line: Exhibits to go on sale August 1, with 10% booth discount through Sept. 1.
Email blasts will begin in September. October 1 (Dental Team Forum) will be the soft launch of registration with mailer. This is 7 months out from the conference date. On January 1, a second mailer will be sent out with list of exhibitors and more details. Staff is suggesting that we produce two smaller-format mailers instead of one large registration guide, as in past years. Even with two mailings staff is looking to save about $7000 in printing and postage. Staff is also exploring fax blasting, which may help to reach front office staff –This idea is being tested with marketing for the Dental Team Forum.
2) Exhibit Floor-95 spaces with projected revenue of $136,000. Additional price points were added, including premium pricing for tables near coffee breaks and at entrances to the exhibit halls. Jodie Heimbach, urged the use of coded name badges so that sales reps know who they are meeting in the exhibit halls. It was agreed and will be implemented for 2015. The exhibit hall will be 1 1⁄2 days – 9 AM to 6 PM Friday; 9 AM to 1 PM Saturday.
3) Speakers-Current exhibitors and sponsors were contacted to provide speakers for 2015. About 12 companies responded and 8 speakers were chosen. All but about $3500 in honoraria is covered, including all of featured speaker, Louis Malcmacher. Maureen is still seeking sponsorship for the final $3500. Dr. Elisa Velazquez, representing the NJ Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, has approached NJDA about holding a course at our conference.
4) Sponsorships & Cost Savings-Staff is actively seeking sponsorship of items such as tote bags and badge holders. NJDA had success with this in 2014, by having companies donate 100 totes for distribution, rather than one company providing all, or NJDA absorbing the cost. The on-site guide, which isn’t a successful format for our conference, may be replaced by “You Are Here” signs throughout the Marriott property, plus a pocketed badge holder than can also hold a coupon book of show specials.
Bank of America is interested in giving out $25 “bank cards” that would only be good at the conference and only given to NJDA members.
5) Events-Dinner dance – Dr. Roshong is leaning to having the dinner in his component. Comps were discussed – whether to invite out of state leadership to conference, dinner dance or both. One suggestion was to host out of state guests at a Friday night dinner at the conference, which would be less expensive than at the dinner dance, regardless of where it’s held. Dr. Chinoy said the Rules of the Board need to be reviewed and a recommendation about comps made to the Board. How to handle comps was tabled until the September meeting.
2015-Registration fees and packages Referring back to the 2014 registration figures, Maureen pointed out that only about 220 attendees took courses. Also, (free) Breakfast & Learn attendance was so low that NJDA had to refund money to the breakfast sponsor. In addition, staff time and resources were used to prepare packets for 550 no-shows.
-Adding a registration fee -- either alone or bundled with meals and/or a course might reduce the number of no-shows. Dr. LaMorte felt strongly that members should not be penalized if they decide or are unable to attend the conference. Stan Orenstein said that NJDA currently refunds anyone who cancels in writing.
-Suggested by Jodie Heimbach – refund some or all of a registration fee if the registrant actually attends. -Dr. Delson – Impose a registration fee, or make registration free if a course is also taken. Another suggestion is to offset the cost of registration with a coupon of greater value.
-Suggested by Maureen, based on food & beverage quotes from the hotel: $50 registration fee that includes coffee break/continental breakfast, lunch buffet and afternoon coffee break. Or, charge $150 per person and include up to 3 CE credits with food and beverage. People who only want to attend exhibits couldn’t be stopped from taking advantage of the coffee break areas. Dr. Wallet suggested finding a coffee break sponsor. Maureen pointed out that having a single coffee sponsor hasn’t worked well in past years and this year we’ve increased the price of exhibit tables near the break areas.
Tabled to September meeting: Vice Chair Vote and Package Pricing Decisions
Dr. Dzitzer asked that everyone review the Rules of the Board and pricing questions and be prepared to discuss and vote in September
Dental Benefits-Devang Modi, Anionette Tauk
CRP Statistics: 38 complaints have been submitted to NJDA for the year. 13 against Aetna and 8 against MetLife. Most of them refund requests and denial of claims.
Update on Aetna EFT/Proposed Rule/HIPAA Standard for EFT: Staff updated the council on discussions with Aetna concerning opting out of the electronic payment process, as well as NJDA’s request to the Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI) concerning mandatory EFT programs. Subsequently, DOBI proposed a regulation to amend the Unfair Claims Settlement Practices rule concerning alternative payment mechanisms (EFT, credit/debit cards). The rule would require that payments be made by check unless the payee voluntarily agreed to an alternate means. NJDA will be submitting comments to clarify that the rule would apply to payments made directly to treating practitioners.
Delta Dental Risk-Based Plan: The council reviewed information on a risk-based Delta Dental Plan (Michigan, Indiana and Ohio) that limits cleanings to one per year unless specific risk factors are indicated on a risk assessment survey completed by enrollees online. If eligible, enrollees can receive up to four cleanings per year. The plan also incorporates a genetic marker test that checks for the presence of interleukin 1 to assess patients’ risk for developing periodontitis. Both the risk assessment and genetic test are voluntary.
Use of ER For Oral Care in NJ Report, Webinar and Meeting with Rutgers Center for State Health Policy: The council reviewed, as informational, the report published by Rutgers Center for State Health Policy on the use of the ER for oral health problems, and the costs involved.
Washington State “ABCD” Program: The council reviewed information on the Washington State “Access to Baby and Child Dentistry” (ABCD) program that boasts an impressive 54% utilization rate for Medicaid-eligible preschoolers and younger children. Over a five-year period, ABCD helped cut in half the rate of untreated decay among low-income preschoolers. One of the program’s features is that participating dentists receive training in treating very young children. Dr. Bilenker opined that a weekend study club could be devoted to a course for general dentists so that there would be a greater comfort level in treating young children.
Summit Dental Group: Dr. Bilenker reported on a solicitation he received from Summit Dental Group, a dental practice acquisition company. The arrangement described would have the owner dentist “sell” the practice to the corporation and continue in the practice as an associate without the “management headaches”. Staff reminded the council that NJDA submitted a petition for rulemaking on this subject, which the State Board of Dentistry is currently reviewing.
Membership- Genevieve Fernandes, Nima Mir-Madjlessi
The ADA Strategic Promotional Incentive in which New Jersey can participate is a one-time 50% dues reduction for nonmembers that are 5-10 years out of dental school and are otherwise ineligible for existing reduced dues programs. The ADA has modified the SPI program to target the identified groups for three years. This SPI will, therefore, be extended to eligible non-members from 2015 through 2017. This will give the ADA, and state and local societies the opportunity to work on recruiting a target market for a longer period of time which we know yields greater success.
The NJDA Board met on July 23, 2014 and agreed that the NJDA should match this SPI at the State level. Since the Board would not meet again until the middle of September, this was presented to the Board prior to the council reviewing the program so that the components could be afforded a reasonable amount of time to get this on an agenda and determine if the component will support the SPI; making it possible for us to offer the one-time 50% dues reduction at all three levels of membership.
The final list of eligible non-members will come from the ADA, but an approximate number of eligible non-members was provided on the call to give each component a sense of the scope of the program. The numbers are: Atlantic/CM-4, Bergen-55, Central-7, Essex-18, Hudson-26, Mercer-18, Middlesex-46, Monmouth/Ocean-32, Passaic-31, Southern-45, Tri-18, Union-11.
Once component approval is attained I will notify NJDA in order that both the ADA and NJDA have adequate time to prepare marketing materials and promote the incentive before the end of the calendar year to eligible non-members.
New Dentist Conference-inclusion of Match Program for Sellers and Buyers
Maureen will shortly begin working on identifying locations and dates for the 2015 new dentist conference (there may be two in 2015 – one north jersey and one south), She and Patricia DeCottis have discussed an idea for the conference. They are considering concluding the conference with an hour and a half match program for practice buyers and sellers. Although the New Dentist Conference would not be marketed to dentists that would likely be buyers, we will separately market the Match Program to the entire membership. The reason they would not extend the program to individuals seeking to hire associates is because there may be some confidentiality concerns in “advertising” that one is looking for a job or looking to hire. Keeping the program focused on the singular issue is also a good way to pilot the concept.
2014 Non-Renew Strategy for Reinstatement
On Monday, August 25th, 2014 AnnMarie e-mailed each component council representative a meeting agenda which had attached to it each respective component’s non-renew list. These were individuals who were members in 2013 that had not paid 2014 dues and were officially dropped as members in early July. NJDA has continued to reach out to these doctors with e-mails, printed materials and telephone calls. These were the lists from which we worked when each component society sent dues bills in May. Each component council member will needs to discuss their list at their September component executive meetings to develop a strategy for bringing these members back into membership. Patricia advised on the call that NJDA is available to participate in those discussions with us or provide additional information on the individuals on your list (for example – amount owed, year of graduation, waiver history if any). As we continue to receive payments NJDA will notify us to remove that individual from our list. As our component begins reaching out to these non-renews, we are to also make AnnMarie and Patricia aware of any follow-up they can assist with.
Finally, after the conference call, AnnMarie and Patricia met with Nicole (NJDA marketing and communications manager) to develop an NJDA strategy for reaching out to these doctors in September. They have determined that they will open the on-line payment system (closed since July) for the month of September to make it easier for them to rejoin. They will email the doctors reminding them that they have lost their benefits and that we are reopening the on-line payment option. They may mail them a postcard as well.
Peer Review-Sandy Goldstein
We had four cases assigned and completed during the months of July and August 2014.
Committee Reports:
Corporate Sponsorship-Ira Rosen
We are pleased to report that we currently have five corporate sponsors that have taken sponsorship packages for our dental society for 2014-2015 and will be attending our monthly meetings. We have four gold sponsors that will be attending all six of our scientific meetings: Biomet 3i, Benco Dental Supply Company, Dentsply (Tulsa) and TD Bank. We have one bronze sponsor that will be attending two of our scientific meetings: Kuwata Pan Dent. In addition, AFTCO will be placing an ad in all of our monthly newsletters again.
We want to thank Benco Dental Supply Company for also sponsoring our all-day practice management course on April 22, 2015. Save the date for yourself and your staff and look for the upcoming flyer with all of the specifics.
We are very grateful to all of our corporate sponsors because they enable the Middlesex County Dental Society to provide top quality continuing education to our membership in a local venue at reasonable cost, as well as a wide range of member benefits.
Mentor-Nima Mir-Madjlessi
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, was be given on June 19, 2014 at St. Peter’s Medical Center, New Brunswick. We had 199 members and staff attending the course.
Two CEU credits are awarded to the Dentists & staff members attending these 2-hour seminars. These seminars are available as a member benefit of MCDS.
A very big “Thank You” to Dr. Joe Fertig, Director of Dental Services - St. Peter’s Medical Center, for arranging all our room accommodations for the MCDS-OSHA-Mentor programs at St. Peter’s Medical Center in New Brunswick. The next certification course will be held at St. Peter’s Medical Center on November 6,2014.
Please see the registration form in this newsletter for additional information and registration for the Mentor program.
Budget and Finance-Ira Rosen
The proposed 2014-2015 MCDS budget will be presented to the Executive Board at our October meeting. Once approved, it will be presented to the membership at the October general meeting for comments, published in the November newsletter and finally voted on at the November general meeting.
New Business
Dr. Silverstein made a motion to establish a committee to re-design our web site. Approved. Committee members will be Elisa Marantz, Ira Rosen, Cavan Brunsden, Sanjeev Satwah, Nima Mir-Madjlessi, and Robert Silverstein, Chair
Dr. Alyssa Bernstein made a motion that the current Vice- President Dr. Devang Modi will be the Education Coordinator for the 2015-2016 year. Approved.
Good and Welfare
Congrats to Marlene and Ethan Glickman on the birth of their granddaughter, Kennedy. She was born on Aug. 28th. and joins her sisters, Madison and Sydney.
Respectfully Submitted,
Genevieve Fernandes,
Secretary

Provide MCDS with your email address!

As those of you who have registered your email addresses with us know, the Board is becoming more pro-active in notifying you with timely information, such as upcoming early registration deadlines, reminders about the change in date for the April General Meeting, course reminders, etc. By having your email address, we can get such vital and timely information to you. Register by going to our web site (www.MCDSofNJ.org), then the member page, then “Of Current Interest.” It’s the third link down. The username is mcds, and the password is mcds1912.

Donate to NJDPAC Today!

Be a Dental Leader: Contribute to the New Jersey Dental Political Action Committee (NJDPAC). Your NJDPAC contributions provide protection against the influence of attorneys, insurers and others seeking to affect the way you want to practice your profession. NJDPAC does not support a political party; NJDPAC builds the relationship between organized dentistry and the politicians who can impact your practice. This year, NJDPAC successfully fought for your rights in the following areas: Passed Assignment of Benefits: dental and health services corporations are now required to make payments to out-of-network dentists. Passed General Supervision: Dentists no longer have to be present in their office during routine cleanings with dental hygienists. Stopped surcharges on dentists to pay for physicians’ malpractice insurance Stopped dental offices from being classified as Ambulatory Surgical Centers Stopped a bill prohibiting dentists from charging missed appointment fees Eliminated a 6% tax on cosmetic dental procedures (effective July 1, 2014) Worked with the Department of Banking and Insurance: MetLife reprocessed claims and returned a total of $763,000 to NJ dentists. UHC was penalized for improperly denied claims after NJDA alerted the Department of Banking and Insurance. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield (medical) was directed to stop denying claims from dentists with the denial reason “not eligible if performed by this type of provider”. Claims denied for this reason in the past are being reprocessed, some of which may be paid but some may deny for other reasons. To donate, there is always a link to a form on our web site when you view the latest newsletter.