Meet Kevin Keating, DDS, MS, one of the CDA Foundation’s current board members. The Foundation’s board guides ongoing efforts to support dental professionals, reduce barriers to care and improve Californians’ oral health.
The CDA Foundation’s board of directors plays an important role. The board’s guidance leads ongoing efforts to support dental professionals, reduce barriers to care and improve Californians’ oral health. Today, get to know one of those board members, Kevin Keating, DDS, MS.
As dean of California Northstate University College of Dental Medicine, Dr. Keating is actively involved with preparing new dentists to work in California communities. Before his appointment as dean at CNU, Keating was a practicing endodontist from 1981-2018. During those years, he was also a clinical professor at University of California, San Francisco.
Keating has been involved with the Foundation since its inception in 2001. He remembers attending a CDA House of Delegates meeting when Dr. Kent Farnsworth, the founding director, announced the formation of the Foundation and invited delegates to become members.
“I became a founding member of the foundation and have been involved in some fashion ever since because I have believed in the vision and mission of the CDA Foundation,” Keating stated.
A commitment to volunteerism and leadership is evident in Keatings service outside of the Foundation, as well. Early in his career, he was a founding officer and board member of the California State Association of Endodontists and served on its inaugural executive committee. He chaired the CSAE Peer Review Committee and served as the endodontic consultant for the Sacramento District Dental Society Peer Review Committee for two decades. Keating also served on the board of the American Association of Endodontists and later for their AAE Foundation. Within SDDS he has served as an officer and a board member for both the society and its charitable foundation.
Speaking of his long involvement with the CDA Foundation, Keating said, “What I enjoy most about my involvement with the Foundation is seeing the passion and commitment of all the CDA members and staff that support the Foundation's efforts to fulfill the Foundation’s mission and vision.”
He has fond memories of his time volunteering at CDA Foundation events, noting, “I was personally moved to tears by the profound appreciation of patients treated in CDA Cares clinic when they realized that their ability to smile was preserved and restored. Our skilled endodontists and restorative dentists were able to save anterior teeth that would have otherwise been extracted.”