Dr. Johnson received his DDS degree from NYU in 2008 and Certificate in Endodontics from Case Western School of Dental Medicine in 2011. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Endodontics, and head endodontic attending for the GPR program at Interfaith Medical Center Hospital in Brooklyn. He has given numerous presentations on endodontics for many local and national meetings. Dr. Johnson practices full-time in his private office in midtown Manhattan.

 

This presentation will highlight real-life techniques and strategies touching on endodontic case management, from administering local anesthetic to controlling intra operative pain. The goals of this lecture include: 1) enhance understanding of managing root canal cases from start to finish; 2) accurately diagnose a patient’s chief complaint of pain; 3) understand canal morphology and understand successful endodontic treatment; 4) gain better understanding of how to eliminate intracanal bacteria; and 5) understand why some endodontic cases fail to heal despite seemingly ideal endodontic treatment.

 

My friend, if you are reading this, then you are a truly exceptional and fortunate individual. You are a member of The Middlesex County Dental Society! But have you ever been in a situation where you have asked someone for directions, only to be rewarded with awkward silence and a mildly bemused, uncomprehending stare? You are here today as you were reacted positively to by someone in the past. You are no longer lost but have been entrusted within our care. Just like how you were directed to MCDS, I encourage you to direct others to us. We are all leaders and I assure you that your time and ideas will make a difference. Your random acts of kindness will open the door to others.
I have assembled a great team to keep our dental society moving forward towards the improvement of the health of the public. Over the years I have watched leaders grow as they navigate through their years of volunteerism. Please consider donating your time or resources to one of the many local dental professional programs. It is both personally and professionally rewarding to help ensure our patients have the best possible care. So, do you live your life on purpose? It is essential to live your life being of service to others. At MCDS, we have study clubs for our member benefit. The meetings at these study clubs provide an opportunity for an exchange of ideas and bring value to all. By mentoring to our students, residents and younger dentists in our society, we can not only bounce ideas off, but also be open to constructive criticism. This along with our ability to ‘self-coaching’ by learning from our own experiences will foster our growth towards being excellent clinicians.
The recent Hurricane Florence’s merciless deluge has affected the lives of many. We also cannot forget the hardships we ourselves encountered from previous storms that hit us right here in our community. My sincere condolences to anyone affected by Hurricane Florence. I appreciate the importance of accepting challenges and the opportunities that lie within. Please reach out to your colleagues in those areas affected and be a comforting hand to those in need.
I believe communication is the foundation of success. Your communication with me will enrich our dental society. It is my intention to optimize my capacity to best serve you during my Presidency. The more input I receive from you, the better our dental society will be for all.

Attendance: Drs. Genevieve Fernandes, Sunny Satwah, Antoinette Tauk, Mario Fiorentini, Amit Vora, Robert Silverstein, Richard Kahn, Nima Mir-Madjlessi, Devang Modi, Nicholas Diaz, Maya Prabhu, Constantine Simos, and Stephanie Dowling.
Acceptance of 4/10/2018 Minutes—vote unanimous
President’s Report—Dr. Genevieve Fernandes
Good evening friends. I would like to thank all of you again for giving me the privilege of being our dental society’s President. I cannot express enough how much this means to me. Over the past few years you have been receiving email blasts from me for you to have the full benefits of our membership. I will continue to do so as part of the Hospitality Committee. If you ever have any questions, feel free to contact me. I could be reached by email [email protected] or phone (732) 613-1931 anytime. I would like to also personally thank Dr. Richard Kahn for inviting me to one of our board meetings years ago. The opportunity that he and the rest of the board members gave me is what has brought me here in front of you today. My interactions with the rest of our MCDS board and committee members have been very rewarding and I am looking at continuing to best serve all of you. I am looking forward to this first board meeting as your President. I have new ideas to improve our member retention and recruitment. With everyone’s support I am confident that Middlesex County Dental Society will continue to shine within NJDA. Dr. Deborah Brown, who was elected Secretary of MCDS for this term, has moved out of state. Dr. Antoinette Tauk will sit as Acting Secretary until a suitable replacement can be found.
Treasurer’s Report – Dr. Mario Fiorentini
See full report on page 3
Education Coordinator—Dr. Sunny Satwah
On 9/25/18, Dr. Mohamed Kamel will be presenting his lecture titled “Occlusion in Prosthodontics.” Registration for the meeting starts at 6 PM. There will be some important announcements and our sponsor speeches. We plan to start the courses at 7:45/8 to give the speakers a full hour for their presentation. We will be holding the raffle at the end of the course for our September meeting.
Executive Secretary’s Report—Stephanie Dowling
New member certificates are to be printed and presented. I need to cross check reports to determine that they are indeed new members. There are about fifty certificates for members who never collected them. I will check if these doctors are still members. Dr. Fernandes is to call these members and ask them to attend the Pines Meeting in the future.
NJDA Council Reports:
Dental Benefits—Dr. Devang Modi, Dr. Antoinette Tauk
The CODB met on 9/5/18. Dr. Edward Tirpack, representing Tri-County, was officially made Chair of the Council and Dr. Antoinette Tauk (Middlesex) has been elected Vice Chair. Aetna wants pre and post treatment radiographs of post and core buildups. The burden is on the dental provider to prove the necessity of this treatment modality. Photographs of the tooth are helpful to justify the need for a post and core buildup as well prior to fabrication of the final restoration. An endodontically treated tooth does not automatically necessitate a post and core. Be certain to document and be able to prove your diagnosis and reasoning for treatment planning this code. Delta Dental has purchased a dental analytics company. Each dentist is being monitored for their utilization of various procedure codes. If you receive any correspondence from Delta with reference to this topic, be certain to contact Dr. Joan Monaco at the NJDA. This means you will be getting more audits in the future. Auditors hired through Delta get compensated based on a percentage of the settlement. REGARDING ALL INSURANCE AND GENERAL DOCUMENTATION: It is of the utmost importance that every time you make an entry into your patient chart there must be a diagnosis and treatment plan. You must document your thinking and rationale for all procedures that you perform to justify that the procedure is medically/dentally necessary and that you are not just doing random work without need. For example: do not write #2- occlusal composite but rather Diagnosis: caries on the occlusal surface of #2; Treatment Plan: excavate caries and restore tooth with composite. Dr. Keith Libou from Delta Dental will be attending our next council meeting. We are asking all members to submit universal questions to ask Dr. Libou. Your names will not be needed but we want to take this opportunity to address the membership’s questions and concerns directly with the Director of Delta. We need questions in writing by the end of October please. You can email Joan or myself at [email protected]. I will forward all questions to Joan directly. Members will need to purchase the new edition of the CDT codes for 2019. There are 15 new codes, 5 revised codes, and 12 deleted codes. The changes are significant enough to warrant purchasing a new book. Our next council meeting will be held on 11/7/18,
Membership—Dr. Genevieve Fernandes, Dr. Nima Mir-Madjlessi
We have had a pretty good summer and 2018. We are 453 members strong and we have about 47 members who have yet to correct their oversight and complete our membership. We are planning to work hand in hand with the New Dentist Committee and focus on member retention and expansion. All members have been asked to join NJDA’s New Dentist Committee’s Oral Cancer Fundraiser Walk/Run in memory of Christine Carratura on Sunday, September 23, 2018. Everyone is encouraged and invited to participate. The first meeting of the Membership Council is going to be on September 24, 2018.
New Dentists—Dr. Nicholas Diaz
Events are as follows: Sunday, September 23rd-Join Team NJDA for the Oral Cancer Walk. You can join the team and/or volunteer. Monday, September 24th-The next joint Council on Membership & Committee on New Dentist meeting at NJDA headquarters. New Dentist Social Networking Event on Thursday, Oct 25, 2018 from 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Location: Cloverleaf Tavern Address: 395 Bloomfield Avenue, Caldwell, NJ—email [email protected] and visit their website at https://www.cloverleaftavern.com. Registration is REQUIRED to attend. Register on the NJDA website. NJDA members will receive a $20 registration reimbursement from Bank of America upon arrival.
Peer Review—Dr. Steven Susskind
Our last meeting was in April. A comprehensive prosthetic case was sent to our peer review from Cape May County. It was referred to Middlesex County due to the magnitude of the case and a conflict of interest in that county.
After several months and endless hours of mediation, the treating doctor would still not amenably mediate. The case was then turned back over to NJDA for further review. The bylaws will be evaluated as to what happens next. Another case was started in late August. It is a four-unit prosthetic case. I will give more details on this case once it is successfully mediated. The take home message for today (and every day) is to always treat your patients with respect, be humble and document well.
Committee Reports:
Budget and Finance—Dr. Ira Rosen
The budget committee is comprised of our current and past-presidents, our current and past-treasurers and the chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee. Our by-laws require us to prepare the budget for the October Board of Trustees meeting for board approval and then present it to the membership at the October General Membership meeting. A copy of the budget is then published in the November newsletter and then it is voted upon at our November general meeting.
Corporate Sponsorship—Dr. Ira Rosen
I am happy to announce that as of this time we have secured five corporate sponsors for this year. We have two gold sponsors– ZimmerBiomet and Provident Bank, one silver sponsor- DentsplySirona and two bronze sponsors–Benco Dental Supply Company and Kuwata Pan Dent. There are other potential sponsors “in the works.” In addition, we anticipate having the NJDA Corporate Sponsors continuing to sponsor our “Officer’s Night.” We will continue having our raffles at each general meeting for four $25 VISA gift cards to entice our members to meet with our sponsors. All members are encouraged to visit the sponsors and see the products that they have to offer and how they can help us and our dental practices.
Oral Cancer Screening and Education—Dr. Constantine Simos
There will be an Oral Cancer Walk on 9/23/18.
Dental Shadowing—Stephanie Dowling
Eight students shadowed over the summer.
MCDS Study Club—Dr. Nima Mir-Madjlessi, Dr. Genevieve Fernandes
We are going to start a new season of the MCDS Mentor-Study Club for 2018-9. The following session has been scheduled: Wednesday 10/24/2018 from 6:30-9:00pm @ the NJDA Building, North Brunswick, NJ--Dr Cavan Brunsden will present “The Practice Success System.” Dr. Brunsden has recommended that the members bring their staff members to this session. I would like to remind everyone that this Study Club is a Membership Benefit. I am looking forward to seeing everyone.
Old Business
We need to get bios/CV for life members from Phyllis given to Stephanie. ADA/AGD recertification will be up for renewal in the winter of 2020.
Good and Welfare
Dr. Nicholas Diaz and his wife are expecting a child soon.
Respectfully Submitted, Antoinette Tauk, Acting Secretary, MCDS

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