Membership Increases One Dentist at a Time

The issue of membership -- how to recruit and retain new members -- has become key to associations across the nation. According to Mark Levin, CAE, author of Millennium Membership: How to Attract and Keep Members in the New Marketplace, the biggest mistake an association can make is trying to keep up with organizational change rather than changes in the lives of its members.

Levin wrote, "To put it simply, it’s not about you. It’s not about the organization. It’s about the member."

In his introduction, Levin explained that the most challenging issue facing today’s associations is the pace that information travels in this technological age. "What is at issue is the speed of change," he wrote. "As the pace of life quickens, people are becoming more frustrated by their inability to keep up. They expect their membership organizations to help them cope not only with what’s new in their careers or businesses, but also with the speed in which these new developments enter their lives."

Membership has come to the forefront of the agenda for organized dentistry at national, state, and local levels. The ADA House of Delegates in 2001 adopted a resolution called the Grassroots Membership Initiative, which aims to achieve a membership market share of 75 percent by 2005. The ADA’s current share of active licensed dentists is 70.4 percent -- down from 74.3 percent in 1993.

The initiative focuses heavily on a one-to-one approach that enables members to seek out their peers to emphasize the value of tripartite membership. Early numbers report that the initiative is having some impact: ADA membership records dating to mid-September 2002 show an increase of more than 700 active, full-dues paying members since the end of 2001.

Similarly, the 2002 CDA House of Delegates has adopted the Recruitment and Retention Plan developed by CDA’s Division of Marketing and Communications, which seeks to increase the share of active dentists who are CDA members from 66 percent to 72 percent by the year 2005.

In addition to defining goals, the Recruitment and Retention Plan has identified through surveys and focus groups potential barriers to membership as well as ways to overcome them. One of the identified barriers was the membership application itself, which previously could take six months to a year to process. The Council on Membership, CDA staff, and components have worked in concert for several years to develop a standardized membership application, which would take no more than two months to process. The concept of a universal membership application was approved by the 2002 CDA House of Delegates in November.

"Since membership growth is so vital to an organization, the application process should not be a ‘turn-off,’" said Council on Membership member and former Chair John D. Williams, DDS. "We are so pleased that the delegates adopted a streamlined application procedure, to be used by all components, that makes it a positive experience for the potential member."

Both the ADA’s Grassroots Membership Initiative and the CDA’s Recruitment and Retention Plan focus heavily on one-to-one communication and propose current member-dentists approach nonmembers at the component level.

CDA’s Marketing and Communication Division is working to educate and involve components in recruiting members by holding a series of training seminars for component dental society executives and leaders on how to attract and keep members in the new marketplace. Levin spoke at seminars offered in August 2002, in which 26 of the 32 components participated. Levin offered tips on how to personalize recruitment efforts and engage new members. He also pointed out ways to gauge the interests and concerns of different age groups, depending on how long they have been in practice, and ways to tailor membership benefits to their specific generation.

According to Cynthia K. Brattesani, DDS, CDA member and chair of the ADA Council on Membership, "Membership is everything; it’s everything to organized dentistry and, ultimately, it’s everything for dentistry."

Brattesani has always placed an immense value on members; membership; and team-oriented, coordinated recruitment and retention efforts at the component, state and national level. She applauds the ADA’s Grassroots Membership Initiative and the CDA’s Recruitment and Retention Plan, which incorporate the team-oriented, highly personalized approach to membership development. This one-to-one approach in recruitment is a trend being espoused by the tripartite as a whole. With today’s workforce becoming increasingly disconnected through its reliance on e-mail, voicemail, and the Internet, association leadership is counting on the personal touch to bring in potential members.

As Brattesani put it, nothing makes a stronger, more credible statement than one dentist saying to another dentist, "I belong to organized dentistry; it benefits us, it works for us, and most importantly, it’s about us."

UCSF School of Dentistry Receives Faculty Development Grant

The University of California San Francisco School of Dentistry has been named the lead institution in a consortium of dental schools to receive $5.3 million from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

The K12 Institutional Career Development Award has been given to the Western Oral Research Consortium, which includes the UCSF School of Dentistry, the University of Washington, University of the Pacific, University of Colorado Health Sciences Campus, and the Oregon Health Science University.

John S. Greenspan, BDS, PhD, director of Western Oral Research Consortium and dean for research at the UCSF School of Dentistry, said the funds will offer an innovative approach to the development of investigators and faculty members devoted to oral health research.

"The K12/WEORC Program supports new and recent DDS/PhDs and similar up-and-coming scientists for up to five years of mentored postdoctoral and junior faculty development," Greenspan said. "Academic dentistry, not unlike other health sciences, is on the brink of a serious problem with approximately 500 currently open faculty positions in dental schools, and projected to reach 2,000 within the next few years. The very future of dental education depends on the identification and development of the next generation of teachers and investigators."

The five-year, $5.3 million award is in two phases:

1. In the scholar development phase, the grant supports outstanding new clinician scientists with clinically relevant PhD degrees to obtain additional mentored postdoctoral research experience;

2. The faculty transition phase is next, after the individual is appointed to a tenure-track or equivalent position, followed by funding for an independent research project.

The K12/WEORC Program is part of a broader initiative within the five-school Western Oral Research Consortium’s work, including the identification of dental-school- bound college applicants with an interest in teaching and research; the support of students in dental school who are interested in experiencing a research environment; and a range of post-DDS degree and nondegree training programs for such future academics.

Funding For Global Protein Database Will Create One Reliable Resource

Throwing its financial support behind the concept of a centralized repository for protein data, the National Human Genome Research Institute, in cooperation with five other institutes and centers at the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a three-year, $15 million grant to combine three of the world’s current protein sequence databases into a single global resource.

Dubbed the United Protein Database, or UniProt, the new, public database will combine the resources of three existing protein databases: SWISS-PROT, TrEMBL and the Protein Information Resource. The action is aimed at ensuring that researchers around the world will have free, unrestricted access to a comprehensive and non-redundant source of protein information, as well as creating a powerful tool for the study of human disease.

"One of the great challenges facing scientists today is interpreting the tremendous amount of data being generated by the Human Genome Project and related research," said Dr. Francis S. Collins, the director of genome research institute. "The UniProt database will become a resource for all scientists to use, both to develop a better understanding of biology and to translate that basic science into clinical applications. This award demonstrates that [the genome research institute and National Institutes of Health] continue to be committed to funding bioinformatics infrastructure for the international scientific community."

New HIV Vaccine Holds Promise Of Global Effectiveness

Clinical tests have begun on a novel vaccine directed at the three most globally important HIV subtypes, or clades. Developed by scientists at the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center, part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the vaccine incorporates HIV genetic material from clades A, B, and C, which cause about 90 percent of all HIV infections around the world.

"This is the first multigene, multiclade HIV vaccine to enter human trials," said infectious disease institute Director Anthony S. Fauci, MD. "It marks an important milestone in our search for a single vaccine that targets U.S. subtypes of HIV as well as clades causing the global epidemic," he said.

"This trial begins a process that we hope will culminate in a globally effective HIV vaccine," said Gary Nabel, MD, PhD, who heads the vaccine research center. "The first step is to develop a multiclade vaccine. If our candidate elicits an effective immune response and proves safe in clinical testing, we will include additional components in subsequent trials in hopes of boosting this response. Ultimately, we aim to build a potent vaccine designed to prevent HIV infection."

The trial vaccine is a DNA vaccine, a kind shown to be very safe in previous clinical trials. A person cannot become infected with HIV from this vaccine, Nabel said.

Efforts to develop a broadly effective vaccine against HIV are complicated not only by the many clades, but also by the virus’ ability to elude immune system defenses through rapid mutation.

"Any HIV vaccine must hit a constantly moving target," said Nabel. "Essentially, we are trying to enlarge that target through a multiclade vaccine." Researchers do not yet know if a multiclade vaccine will be more effective than one based on a single clade.

HHS Announces Creation Of Medical Reserve Corps Units

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced 42 grants totaling $2 million to community-based organizations to begin building local Medical Reserve Corps units that will help local communities prepare and respond in the event of a public health emergency.

The local medical corps units are made up of local citizens, volunteers who are trained to respond to health crises. The volunteers’ responsibilities will include emergency response, logistical planning, records keeping, assisting in public health and awareness campaigns, and public communications.

"The Medical Reserve Corps gives Americans an opportunity to help out in their community. All of us have talents and skills and there is no better place to use those talents then in service to the local community," Thompson said. "These awards will help empower our communities to plan and establish local citizen-centered volunteer Medical Reserve Corps units that will include not only physicians and nurses but also a broad range of skills in health and other fields."

Each local medical corps unit will be established, activated, and operated by the local community, in concert with established emergency response and public health systems. They will be an important additional resource to address health problems that a local community might incur because of a natural disaster or other catastrophic event. In addition, volunteers may help with local health campaigns -- such as immunizations -- and health education and awareness in the community throughout the year.

For more information, including the medical corps guidance document "Medical Reserve Corps -- A Guide for Local Leaders," information on training resources, and a monthly newsletter, please visit www.medicalreservecorps.gov or call the Office of the Surgeon General at (301) 443-4000.

Study: Emergency Pulpotomies in Primary Molars Have High Failure Rate

When pulpotomies were performed in primary molars under acute conditions and restored with temporary restorations, there was a high failure rate, according to a study done by researchers at the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Florida.

In the study published in Pediatric Dentistry, May/June 2002, researchers studied 59 patients with a total of 64 pulpotomies over a two-year period. Thirty-nine of the 64 teeth were considered to have a successful pulpotomy therapy and a stainless steel crown was placed.

A 53 percent success rate was observed within the first 90 days following emergency treatment, and a 31 percent success rate was found after a year.

The researchers noted that diagnosis and treatment of primary teeth with advanced caries presents a challenge for dentists. They wrote that an inaccurate diagnosis of pulpal status may result in a questionable prognosis. The histologic condition of the pulp may be advanced beyond the observable clinical and radiographic signs and symptoms.

In most clinical situations when pulpotomies are performed on an emergency basis, a temporary filling material is used and a more definitive restoration is placed during a follow-up appointment, which may be provided after a few weeks or months.

The study found low compliance, especially among the Medicaid insured. Researchers noted that the chances that these patients sought treatment in a different clinic were remote because of the low number of Medicaid providers in the area. The researchers wrote that the original emergency problem did not motivate a large number of these patients to seek further dental care.

Diseases Emerging, Re-emerging in America and Globally

In a rapidly changing world, some of the tiniest of organisms are adapting and thriving, posing a serious threat to the health of humans, according to an article in MSU Today, a newsletter of Michigan State University.

According to the article, during the past two decades, more than 30 emerging or re-emerging diseases have produced either epidemics or serious health problems.

The article cited these facts:

* Malaria infects as many as a half-billion people every year, killing between 2 million and 3 million. In Kenya alone, during a six-week span in June and July of 2002, more than 150,000 contracted the disease and 300 people died.

* In a two-week span in July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 34 cases of Escherichia coli in the United States, resulting in 10 hospitalizations and one death. The United States sees an estimated 73,000 cases and 60 deaths from the disease every year

* By September 2002, West Nile virus had spread to at least 30 states, killing at least 94 people and prompting CDC Director Julie Gerbeding to call it an "emerging infectious disease epidemic."

Edward Walker and Steve Bolin, co-interim directors of MSU’s Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases said they are concerned with the intentional introduction of agents of infectious diseases by bioterrorists. The center’s mission is to conduct research, provide field-based and clinical training, gather and evaluate date, and improve communication about emerging diseases.

Health Fraud Watchdog Says Amalgam Fillings Safe

Dental amalgam fillings are safe and anti-amalgam activities endanger the public welfare, said the National Council Against Health Fraud in a position paper released October 2002.
"No dentist is required to use amalgam," observed the NCAHF in its four-page statement. "However, dentists who make false claims about amalgam safety create unnecessary patient anxiety and undermine confidence in the (dental) profession. Such behavior should be considered unprofessional conduct."

NCAHF is a private, nonprofit, voluntary health agency that "focuses on health misinformation, fraud and quackery as public health problems." To read the full position paper on amalgam, go to either www.ncahf.org or to a related Web site, www.dentalwatch.org.

Honors

Jack S. Broussard, Jr., DDS, has been named the director of the University of Southern California School of Dentistry’s new Oral Health Center. In this capacity, he provides leadership and management of the school’s faculty practice. Picture from Jan 2002 Journal, member of Ex Com.

George C. Cho, DDS, has been appointed the first director of predoctoral implant dentistry at USC School of Dentistry. He will provide leadership and management to ensure that all predoctoral dental students gain education, training, and experience in implant dentistry.

Sigmund H. Abelson, DDS, has received the 2002 Community Service Award from the Latin American Dental Association. He was honored in part for forming CDA’s Interorganizational Affairs Committee, which comprises representatives of ethnic dental associations.

Upcoming Meetings

2003

Feb. 5-8 American Academy of Dental Group Practice Annual Conference and Exhibition, Miami, (602) 381-1185, www.aadgp.org.

March 5-8 Academy of Laser Dentistry 10th Annual Conference and Exhibition, Destin, Fla., (954) 346-3776, www.laserdentistry.org.

April 24-27 CDA Spring Scientific Session, Anaheim, Calif., (916) 443-3382, Ext. 4470.

April 29-May 4 19th Annual American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Scientific Session, Orlando, Fla., (800) 543-9220, www.aacd.com.

June 19-22 OSAP 2003 Symposium, Tucson, Ariz., 800-298-OSAP.

Oct. 25-29, ADA Annual Session, San Francisco, (312) 440-2500.

2004

April 15-18 CDA Spring Scientific Session, Anaheim, Calif., (916) 443-3382, Ext. 4470.

Sept. 8-11 International Federation of Endodontic Associations Sixth Endodontic World Congress, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, www.ifea2004.im.com.au.

Sept. 10-12 CDA Fall Scientific Session, San Francisco, (916) 443-3382, Ext. 4470.

Sept. 30-Oct. 3 ADA Annual Session, Orlando, Fla., (312) 440-2500.

To have a meeting included on this list, please send the information to Upcoming Meetings, CDA Journal, P.O. Box 13749, Sacramento, CA 95853 or fax the information to (916) 443-2943.