It has been an uneasy half-year with the war in Iraq followed closely by SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), and increasingly unfriendly and daunting terroristic, economic, health and global conditions. Despite these problems, members of our profession met in Hawaii just about the time HIPPA went into effect and before most of us understood thoroughly what it will mean to our practices. It was wonderful to see the largest attendance we had ever had for an AAO annual meeting.

Our Society has a tradition of excellent speakers for all our annual meetings. Last year, through the able leadership of Dr. Joseph Damone, Drs. Lloyd E. Pearson and James L. Vaden reinforced our understanding of the biomechnics used in the control of vertical dimension. This year’s meeting promises to be equally stimulating.

Please mark your calendars:

Day: Wednesday
Date: November 12,2003
Time: 8:30 – 5:00
Place: Union League of Philadelphia
140 S. Broad St.
Philadelphia

More information

Our speaker will be Dr. Robert L. Boyd from the University of the Pacific, San Francisco, California, who will present “The Predictability of Successful Orthodontic Treatment Results Using Invisalign.”

Special appreciation to Dr. Orhan C. Tuncay for his dedication and commitment to the advancement of our profession and our Society while serving as a board member. We welcome Dr. Vanessa A. Morenzi to the GPSO Board and she will serve as the new Website Coordinator. The GPSO members are encouraged to use the Website (www.gpso.org) as a medium for communication. If the computer is not your favorite way to communicate, please feel free to call me with a question, comment or suggestion.

I look forward to working with you this year and to seeing everyone at the Union League on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 for our 58th annual meeting.

Rosie Mayro

We hope that you are having a good year. Delaware Orthodontists have been enjoying several good continuing education courses this year including the Orthodontist as CEO that the AAO sponsored in February. Several of us also attended the Gorman Institute program in Las Vegas and Mulligan’s course in Arizona. Temple University held their alumni program in Philadelphia featuring Terry Dischinger. We are fortunate to have such an array of quality programs to attend. We look forward to GPSO’s program in November.

In addition to attending courses, we are also presenting and participating in organized orthodontics. John Nista has prepared a program for the Liberty Dental conference this spring. Ali Husain has been appointed as alternate delegate from MASO to the AAO. Yours truly was elected director to MASO.

Delaware Orthodontists have distinguished themselves by contributing to the AAOF with generous contributions. We hope that all of you will be motivated to support a Case for the Future.

Enjoy a terrific summer. See you in the fall.

Connie Greeley

Temple orthodontics is closely associated with GPSO. It is a forum where different ideas are freely discussed; almost like publishing of scientific articles. The department is committed to technology development. These are in the areas of tooth movement, imaging and practice management. We hold patents on a number of those technologies.
In the month of March, Temple residents organized the 4th Philly DOC meeting. This was founded by Temple graduate program through the efforts of Dr. Brian Amy. It is a day of get together (only open to residents and program faculty) and listen to a lecturer. Remarkably, this year’s speaker was the most influential person in the world for small business consulting: Michael Gerber. His best-known book is E-myth. It was a coup to have him in Philadelphia. Dr. Ousama El-Hillal, Robert Bray and Gilbert Snow have all worked hard to make the day possible.
Scholarship in the department is at an all time high. The number of publications from Temple graduate program faculty is truly startling. And every year it goes up. This makes us the most productive department at Temple. We also travel frequently and lecture to various groups or universities nationally and internationally.
Significantly, the incoming group of residents again score an all time high with their credentials. We are pleased they chose Temple even though they don’t receive a stipend; instead they must pay a very high tuition. Such confirmation of our excellence pleases us.

Orhan C Tuncay, DMD
Professor and Chairman

The results of the residency selection process for residents entering in 2003 has concluded and the entering residents are: Dr. Mark Huls, a graduate of the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine who then completed a U.S. Navy Advanced Education Program in General Dentistry and until recently served 3 years as a naval dental officer; Dr. Anthony Pasquale, a graduate of the University of Toronto Dental School and the General Practice Residency Program at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and until recently an associate in private practice; Dr. Clay VanderWall, a graduate of both the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry and a U.S. Navy General Practice Residency Program, who then concluded a 4 year tour of duty as a Navy dentist. We are very pleased with the outcome of our selection process and look forward to an exciting and educationally rewarding experience for residents and faculty.

The post-doctoral program at Einstein Medical Center is one of 17 programs in the nation that is participating in a voluntary American Board of Orthodontics pilot study for assessment of clinical outcomes. This “Orthodontic Resident Clinical Outcomes Study” will be an evaluation of the efficacy of offering early certification to recent orthodontic graduates using cases treated in their residencies. The issue is whether cases treated in graduate orthodontic programs meet ABO standards. One of the many pre-requisites of the participating programs is that the length of the program be no less than 30 months. Program length at Einstein Medical Center is 36 months. The study is under way and we look forward to its conclusions and the results of this pilot project.

Alan J. Borislow, DDS
Chairman and Program Director

On Wednesday, May 21, 2003, the Orthodontic Department held their research presentation with the following residents presenting their projects to the standing faculty:

The 2003 Research Award recipient was Dr. Tara Gostovich. Dr. Gostovich's research advisor for her project was Dr. Guy Coby of Quakertown, PA.

The Clinic and Alumni Day for the Department will occur on September 18 & 19, respectively. Dr. Douglas White will preside as President of the Alumni Association. Clinic Day will include resident presentations as well as a demonstration by Dolphin Imaging.

Alumni Day will present Dr. William R. Proffit as the full-day guest lecturer.

For more information regarding Clinic and/or Alumni Days, please contact Ms. Barbara DelRegino in the Department of Orthodontics at 215-898-5910.

The New Jersey Association of Orthodontists had a very busy year under the direction of their recent past-president, Dr. Alex Colalillo, Jr. One of the highlights of the year was initiating the “Groundhog Job Shadow Day” program. This program acquaints high school students with potential career opportunities in the orthodontic field. Starting February, 2003, students had the chance to “shadow” participating orthodontists and their staff during a typical day at the office. The students were exposed to the administrative, clinical, and laboratory technician positions as possible future career opportunities.

The NJAO Continuing Education program has always been very strong, and the 2002-2003 year was no different. In total we had three programs, one being during our annual session in April 2003. At the annual session doctors and staff alike are able to attend lectures and receive continuing education credits. This program will again continue during the 2003-2004 year.

Our public awareness campaign has been ongoing for a number of years under the dedicated direction of Dr. Robert Van Sciver. We have continued to increase the number of hits we are receiving at our NJAO website by running advertisements in both weekly and daily newspapers statewide. We are continually reevaluating the responses we receive from this campaign in order to fine tune our efforts to make the best use of our funding dollars.

This year’s president, Dr. Mary Beth Morrone, along with the Executive Board members, are looking forward to forging ahead in the areas of technology and public awareness, as well as meeting the needs of the NJAO membership.