LLU School of Dentistry Dean Ronald Dailey, PhD, Marlise Perry, assistant director, Admissions, Krista Juhl, MBA, director, Marketing, and Brian Novy, DDS’06, associate professor of Restorative Dentistry, represented the School at the California Dental Association’s “The Art and Science of Dentistry” meetings held August 15-17 in San Francisco’s Moscone South Convention Center.
The School’s representatives may not have left their hearts in San Francisco, but three of the four shook approximately 2,000 hands and distributed nearly a ton of the School’s Dentistry alumni journals, Biennial Reports, “Facts Highlights and Firsts” brochures, and admissions materials from a 10’ by 10’ booth on the floor of the Center.
Dean Dailey was pleased to visit for most of two days with the continuous congenial traffic of prospective students, alumni, and colleagues.
Also attending were three of the School’s CDA dental student representatives: Marianne Demordji, D2, Erica Becker, D3, and Jane Kim, D4.
Dr. Novy made three presentations on two topics. In “The Plaque Monologues,” he argued, “Dental professionals are convinced plaque is their nemesis, yet the scientific evidence indicates that some forms of plaque can provide colonization resistance against cariogenic bacteria. What can we do for our patients,” he asks rhetorically, “to help them grow this beneficial plaque?”
In his two-part in-service, “I Can Hear the Odontoblasts Screaming,” Dr. Novy acknowledged, “Controlling the environment and organisms of the mouth is always a challenge.” But “recent caries research,” he says “has provided the dental profession with an array of diagnostic aids and a myriad of treatment modalities, many of which are not well publicized.” Dr. Novy provided participants the knowledge and tools to identify caries infection and to treat the disease using a medical model.
Interestingly, the School of Dentistry has a number of alumni who are playing significant roles in the operation of the CDA. The Association’s conventions are made possible through the hard work of 15 CDA Presents Board of Managers who make certain that all attendees have the opportunity to learn from the most successful names in dentistry. Two of those managers are LLUSD alumni: Gary Ackerman, DDS’86, vice chair, and Mark Romanelli, DDS’86.
Randall Boyd, DDS’86, and Charles McKelvey, DDS’86, volunteered as speaker hosts for the San Francisco session as often does their classmate Dennis Zingler, DDS’86.
This year at the Friends reception the CDA Foundation was presented by Cleland “Butch” Ehrler, DDS’68, MS’71, with a check for $5,700 raised by the 4th Annual Ken Stafford, DDS, Memorial Motorcycle Ride to Cherry Valley where continuing education was presented by Lane Thomsen, DDS’65, MS’74, former chair, Oral Pathology at Loma Linda School of Dentistry and a legislative update was provided by California State Senator Bill Emmerson, DDS’80, MS’82. Ron Mead, DDS’73, driving force and co-founder of the event, Mark Romanelli, DDS’86, Gary Ackerman, DDS’86, and Dr. Ehrler organized the Ride. In four events, biking dentists have raised roughly $13,000 for the Foundation.
More deeply into the workings of the CDA, Dr. Ehrler, is treasurer of the CDA Executive Committee; Janice Scott, DDS’86, is a Trustee for the CDA, is on the CDA Foundation Board of Directors where she sits as designated director, and chairs the Foundation scholarship committee; and Kenneth G. Wallis, DDS’86, is secretary of the CDA Executive Committee and a member of the CDA Foundation Board of Directors.
CDA Presents The Art and Science of Dentistry attracted more than 15,000 people, featured more than 100 lectures and workshops and highlighted 375 companies exhibiting the latest in oral health care products and services.
In decompression mode, Krista Juhl said, “It was great to meet so many prospective students,” and she expressed satisfaction that LLUSD’s presence at the CDA meetings was “both a networking and academic success.”