Vol. 36. No. 1-Winter

Issue

17

THE ASSOCIATION IN ACTION

THIRTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTS CHICAGO OCTOBER 24-25, 1975 SCIENTIFIC SESSION Introductory Remarks Robert Mecklenburg, DDS, MPH’ The theme of our own meeting is Strategies for the Future. This theme was chosen because of the rapid social changes that now appear to be commonplace. Few people will venture a guess about what is going to happen next. American society and much of the rest of the world has lost its optimism. The confidence of the 1950’s and 60’s has disintegrated as social and technological events have brought people to the point of questioning everything in which they once believed. It has become increasingly evident that there are ill-considered side-effects to many social values, policies and behavior which, on the surface, appeared to be clearly “good” or “right.” In our own field, complex questions and high controversy have emerged in the form of issues such as the value of private practice related to alternate delivery systems, the cost of oral health and who should support it, the definition of the adequacy of oral health, manpower distribution by geography and by type of provider, the relative roles of research, education, the profession, the community, and others in the pursuit of a viable and high quality social system. What is going to happen next? And why? There are indications that far back in prehistoric times man recognized the concept of future and that his well-being depended upon his ability to prepare for events that at the moment existed only in his mind. Shamans, seers, astrologers and fortune tellers have been in demand right into the present time. From a different frame of reference, scientific pursuits have flourished as man has sustained and intensified his drive to define the limits of predictability. Yet, although the last score of years have brought on a veritable explosion of knowledge about the physical, social, and conceptual universe of man; he remains frustrated by the failure in his ability to predict the future because of the contingencies that constantly seem to arise and override his plans. The scientific community is not fatalistic and resigned. It believes that to a degree the future is predictable and that an analysis of predisposing factors can help us understand why conditions and events are likely to occur. However, such an analysis is quite academic unless value judgments are made about the desirability or undesirability of the results. Once a value judgment is made it may become possible, through a change in policy or social behavior, to alter the chain of events either to enhance desirable results or to diminish undesirable results. In this sense the future is both knowable and manageable. Moreover, this concept and process applies to individuals and to organizations as well as to national and world social systems. We are assembled today because of our concern for the future. The contingencies that frustrate our attempts at forecasting cry out to us that our forecasts are too narrowly defined. There is a larger environment that can and usually does override our individ“Then President-Elect and Program Chairman of AAPHD, Rockville, Md.

Journal of Public Health Dentistry ual plans. The distinguished speakers who are to address us today are assembled as a sampling of the thinking that is going on in major dental institutions which do and will affect the practice of dentistry. The objective of this scientific session is to arm you with information about dental programs that might become either allies or contingencies to the strategies that each of you has already developed as you proceed to fulfill your personal desires and social responsibilities. The program is not intended to stimulate a critique of the concepts, values, and plans of the speakers. Rather, it is meant to stimulate you to reassess and broaden your own forecasts and strategies so that your frustrations are few and your work toward the advancement of oral health fruitful. Each of the speakers was advised that we were searching for the most promising strategies for the advancement of dentistry throughout the remainder of this decade so that we may become better prepared for the less obvious challenges of the 1980’s. Insofar as appropriate to their topic, each speaker was asked to consider the following: 1. Current organizational objectives, 2. Policies and new methods planned to be emphasized by the organization(s), 3. Expected results of these strategies, 4. Assumptions and potential detractors from the course that the organization(s) wish to follow, 5. The larger social issues that are likely to have a bearing on the progress of the organization(s), and 6. Comments about how dentists in the practice of public health might act to advance oral health in concert with organizational objectives and emphases.

[Editor’s note: Dr. Robert Shira, then President-Elect and now President of the American Dental Association, was the first speaker. Unfortunately he spoke from notes and a typescript of his paper is not available to the Journal.]

Mankind On Its Way Out If the New York Department of Education has anticipated results, words such as “mankind,” “manmade,” “statesman,” and “man and wife,” will disappear in one more generation. They will be replaced in kids’ textbooks by “humanity,” “artificial,” “leader,” and “husband and wife.” -The Ann Arbor N e w s for Thursday, July 31, 1975 (KAE)

Come Back Mr. Chips The scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests, which are given to the seniors who graduate from high school by the College Entrance Examination Board, dropped sharply in 1975 for both the verbal and the mathematical sections, The decline is no sudden phenomenon because both scores began falling in 1973. This problem will not go away easily; its effects will haunt us for years. -A. H . Kingon’s editorial in Financial World for September 24, 1975 (KAE)

Thirty-eighth Annual Meeting American Association of Public Health Dentists. Chicago. October 24-25, 1975. Scientific session. Introductory remarks.

Vol. 36. No. 1-Winter Issue 17 THE ASSOCIATION IN ACTION THIRTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTS CHICAGO OCTOB...
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