EDITORIAL
Reflections from the President of the Special Care Dentistry Association Spec Care Dentist 35(2): 55, 2015
It is truly an honor for me to serve as president of Special Care Dentistry Association in 2015. It is an honor and a privilege I think about every day. I often tell people that I was one of those young students in school who dreamed of working in a downtown practice doing beautiful veneers and cosmetic dentistry like so many of the colleagues I went to dental school with. I guess it is because that is what I saw the most of on television and other media. But then something changed for me, I picked the perfect general practice residency program in 2004, and I had no idea how it would change my perspective on life and on my profession. Working with children and adults with special needs, medically complex patients, patients with traumatic brain injuries, and seniors who were struggling to care for their teeth all changed me. It wasn’t easy work, but I found that I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it because it was something that challenged me and helped me grow as a professional. As soon as I completed my
training I went straight into public health and I never looked back. Now, one of my biggest goals in life is to work with young graduates who are starting to feel the same way I did ten years ago. Dentists and dental hygienists who work with our patients are some of the greatest clinicians I know. They are great for their clinical skill but also for their dedication and empathy for our patients. They are great because they are balancing a scary dual role as clinician but also administrator who is conscious of funding and the financial constraints we all work with, and around. As an organization, SCDA is made up of some of the most educated and diverse professionals in dentistry. Now more and more of our colleagues and even the same television and media I watched as dental student are starting to realize that there are groups of individuals who need a special dentist to go to and they aren’t in every community. I am also keenly aware that I don’t know if I would have been able to con-
© 2015 Special Care Dentistry Association and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1111/scd.12108
scd12108.indd 55
tinue my path in special care if it weren’t for having met great friends and mentors through our organization. There are others that have done what I’m trying to do now and they succeeded and were so happy to share their stories with me at the annual meetings, over committee conference calls, and in personal emails. We can never forget as an organization that our strength is in our membership and we must continue to help it grow and diversify. We must continue to work with our new graduates; talk to them, get their contact information, and make them feel like that are a part of our organization. No matter if our passion is in mobile dental care, geriatrics, research and education, private practice, hospital dentistry or all of the above, we are all one organization and as we combine our strengths and talents in our organization we all get stronger along the way. Jason M. Grinter, DDS, MPH e-mail: drgrinter@onsite-dental-services. com
S p e c C a r e D e n t i s t 3 5 ( 2 ) 2 0 1 5 55
13/02/15 11:17 AM
Reflections from the President of the Special Care Dentistry Association Spec Care Dentist 35(2): 55, 2015
It is truly an honor for me to serve as president of Special Care Dentistry Association in 2015. It is an honor and a privilege I think about every day. I often tell people that I was one of those young students in school who dreamed of working in a downtown practice doing beautiful veneers and cosmetic dentistry like so many of the colleagues I went to dental school with. I guess it is because that is what I saw the most of on television and other media. But then something changed for me, I picked the perfect general practice residency program in 2004, and I had no idea how it would change my perspective on life and on my profession. Working with children and adults with special needs, medically complex patients, patients with traumatic brain injuries, and seniors who were struggling to care for their teeth all changed me. It wasn’t easy work, but I found that I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it because it was something that challenged me and helped me grow as a professional. As soon as I completed my
training I went straight into public health and I never looked back. Now, one of my biggest goals in life is to work with young graduates who are starting to feel the same way I did ten years ago. Dentists and dental hygienists who work with our patients are some of the greatest clinicians I know. They are great for their clinical skill but also for their dedication and empathy for our patients. They are great because they are balancing a scary dual role as clinician but also administrator who is conscious of funding and the financial constraints we all work with, and around. As an organization, SCDA is made up of some of the most educated and diverse professionals in dentistry. Now more and more of our colleagues and even the same television and media I watched as dental student are starting to realize that there are groups of individuals who need a special dentist to go to and they aren’t in every community. I am also keenly aware that I don’t know if I would have been able to con-
© 2015 Special Care Dentistry Association and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1111/scd.12108
scd12108.indd 55
tinue my path in special care if it weren’t for having met great friends and mentors through our organization. There are others that have done what I’m trying to do now and they succeeded and were so happy to share their stories with me at the annual meetings, over committee conference calls, and in personal emails. We can never forget as an organization that our strength is in our membership and we must continue to help it grow and diversify. We must continue to work with our new graduates; talk to them, get their contact information, and make them feel like that are a part of our organization. No matter if our passion is in mobile dental care, geriatrics, research and education, private practice, hospital dentistry or all of the above, we are all one organization and as we combine our strengths and talents in our organization we all get stronger along the way. Jason M. Grinter, DDS, MPH e-mail: drgrinter@onsite-dental-services. com
S p e c C a r e D e n t i s t 3 5 ( 2 ) 2 0 1 5 55
13/02/15 11:17 AM
