Dr. David A. Wank is the President and COO of Short Hills Design, LLC and is the author of The Web Design Workbook for Dentists. He is a practicing general dentist, a lecturer, and a leading dental content writer.

Dr. Wank completed his undergraduate studies at Tufts University in Medford, MA, and received his dental degree from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in 2003. He completed a residency at Long Island Jewish Medical Center which included a year as the Chief Resident. Dr. Wank has two sons and he currently practices in Manhattan.

In this information-loaded talk designed for all members of the dental team, dental internet marketing expert, Dr. David Wank will present 60 of the top website design, SEO, AdWords, and Inbound Marketing tips that you need in order to make sure that your online presence is functioning as it should. Whether you use these pearls on your own, or pass them along to your web and marketing teams, every attendee will learn something new that they can immediately put into use!

As I’m writing this message I can’t help notice the irony about my last message. I wrote about the arrival of spring and on the first day of spring there’s a Nor’easter!! I hope everyone makes it through safely and this is the last one of the season.
One of the things that I have always liked about the lecture topics at MCDS is that we always try to get different speakers who speak on a variety of topics. To that end it was a refreshing change to hear about posterior composites – a bread and butter procedure for a lot of our members – and Current concepts and future trends in orthodontics at our last two meetings. Both were very informative and well attended.
Getting new members has been a challenge for all organizations and we are no different. However, because of the tireless efforts of our board members and other member dentists, MCDS has been fortunate in attracting new dentists who join our component every month. It’s our responsibility to make them feel welcome and engage them until they are comfortable enough to interact with others on their own. I see many of you do that and I hope this will continue in the future
We also graduate residents every year from the RWJUH and JFK Medical Center GPR programs. Should you know of any potential job opportunities, please contact one of the officers so that we can put you in touch with the right people
It seems like just yesterday that I was writing my first message and I can’t believe that this is will be my last!! It’s almost a year and by this time next month I will no longer be President. I have enjoyed my term tremendously working closely with our board members, who I can’t even begin to thank. They work selflessly and have been a great asset. It has helped me grow and mature as a person. Our future at MCDS looks bright. The Board and you have approved our nominations for the 2018-2019 slate of officers. I am also excited about our younger and not so younger members taking an active role in the board. Dr. Deborah Brown will be our new secretary, Dr. Chris Fiorentini is our Champion of Action and Dr. Anil Ardeshna is helping us with our school outreach. I hope this inspires some of you’ll to also actively participate in YOUR future. It’s never too old or never too late!!
Please join me on April 17th, 2018 to welcome the new slate of officers as they will be sworn in and inducted. This will also be our last lecture until the fall as Dr. David Wank talks about Moving Patients from your Website to your Chair!
I am honored that you have indulged me this last year and so in conclusion, with apologies to James Cagney(George Cohan): “My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my wife thanks you, and I thank you!!”

Attendance: Drs. Amit Vora, Mark Vitale, Mitchell Weiner, Sunny Satwah, Antoinette Tauk, Peter DeSciscio, Robert Silverstein, Daniel Krantz, Richard Kahn, Alyssa Bernstein, Maya Prabhu, Mark Schambra, Deborah Brown, Steven Susskind, Devang Modi, Nicholas Diaz, Constantine Simos, Nainesh Desai and Stephanie Dowling,
Acceptance of 2/13/18 Minutes—vote unanimous
Treasurer’s Report – Dr. Mario Fiorentini
See full report on page 3
Education Coordinator—Dr. Genevieve Fernandes
On March 20th Dr. Frank Celenza will be speaking on “Ortho Integration with Implants.” On April 17th 2018, Dr. David Wank will be presenting- Moving Patients from your Website to your Chair!
Trustee’s Report—Dr. Peter DeSciscio
January 17th BOT Meeting:
AMT- Medical Benefit Program is making good progress. Good member retention tool but now info will be sent to non-members as a recruitment strategy.
NJDA Building Renovation- The Board approved the floor plan for renovation and the plan will be presented to 2 contractors for bid.
The Succession Committee will now be called the Committee on Executive Succession. An assessment survey was distributed to the BOT to be completed. The results of these surveys as well as comments from the committee, the parties involved as well as the ADA will be reviewed.
The By-Laws were amended to remove the fact that a Journal “shall be published” to “may be published”.
Resource Day was held on three different dates in three different parts of the state,(north, central, south); this proved to be a success.
Membership- we must be pro-active in having members renew and reach out to new potential members.
Annual Session- May 17-19, 2018
Peer Review- 52 cases were handled in 2017.
Government and Public Affairs- A memo was sent to Governor Murphy and his transition team outlining several priorities to improve oral health in NJ.
Jim Schulz applied and received a $45,000 grant from the ADA State Public Affairs Program for a six month period. The money is to be used to hire consultants in government and public affairs.
Dr. Jeff Van Drew, a general dentist from Atlantic/Cape May, a current state senator and loyal NJDA member will be running for Congress in the 2nd Congressional District.
Dr. Giorgio DiVincenzo is the new ADPAC rep for the 4th District.
Two public members were appointed to the NJ State Board of Dentistry by Governor Christie in the final days of his term. They are both attorneys; one from Essex County the other from Bergen County.
NJDA Council Reports:
Dental Benefits—Dr. Devang Modi, Dr. Antoinette Tauk
The Council on Dental Benefits met on 2/28/28. The following information is critical information that the council wants to be delivered to the component society expeditiously. Aetna: you do not need to accept VCC (virtual credit card). You need to call Aetna and opt out of this to receive paper checks. If you swipe the VCC, that implies acceptance of terms, and credit card fees will apply. It will take 90-120 days to discontinue if you then decide to opt out. Credit card fees do apply if you swipe the VCC. If you are in net with Aetna then you have lower fees compounded by a credit card fee if you swipe the VCC. There may be some time in the future when paper checks may be obsolete with insurance companies. At that time, perhaps you can choose an electronic deposit over the VCC. Presently, you still have the option to receive a paper check with an EOB. Delta: Delta has adopted the ALARA principle with new plans. This means your existing patients that continued with Delta from a previous year plan will still have bitewings on adults twice a year. However, a patient with Delta as new insurance will have adult bitewings once per year. Insurance plans are tracking dentists and claims. There are three types of reviews: utilization, focused and special investigation units (SUI). For a utilization review, the computer has tracked you and a flag has been set off. –-A focused review is like peer review. SUI is very serious. You need to contact the NJDA if you receive one of these letters as it can be detrimental and costly. It may be very serious.
Please make certain your office is using ADA form 2012 not on 2007! What you bill must be documented and explained with reasoning as to why treatment was rendered. If your charts are audited you must have proof that the treatment had a diagnosis and not just a line entry. If you are using computer generated auto text you must fill in reasoning, diagnosis, treatment plan, anesthesia used, etc. For example, buccal or facial lesions, caries cannot always be diagnosed on radiographs and may be deemed fraudulent by an insurance company audit if proper documentation does not support the reasoning for treatment. Delta does not accept abfraction as a diagnosis and does not cover this expense in the absence of caries. Photos are helpful in documentation and can often prove the need for treatment when the radiograph may not be fully diagnostic of the patient’s clinical presentation. The ADA applauds the CMS decision to remove Part C, D requirements. This is a proposal only, it is on the table but it has not been passed yet. Our next council meeting is scheduled for 5/23/18.
Peer Review—Dr. Steven Susskind
There was a case that was settled in March. It was a removable upper and lower partial denture case that was successfully mediated.
Committee Reports:
Corporate Sponsorship—Dr. Ira Rosen
I am pleased to announce that we will have five of our corporate sponsors with us at the March meeting. Our four gold sponsors– ZimmerBiomet, Provident Bank, Techspedient Networks and Zeiss; as well as one of our bronze sponsors–Acquadent Dental Laboratory. We will continue holding four raffles at each general meeting for $25 VISA gift cards. Everyone is welcome to enter the raffles if they take the time to meet each of the sponsors. All members are encouraged to visit our sponsors and see the products that they can offer and how they can help us and our dental practices.
Dental Shadowing—Stephanie Dowling
There are two students from Rutgers that inquired and I assisted in the dental shadowing program this month.
Respectfully Submitted,
Antoinette Tauk, Secretary