A World of Opportunity for our Specialty
I recently had the great pleasure of visiting Helsinki, Finland, to attend the European Society of Endodontology’s Biennial Congress 2023.
Helsinki, the capital of Finland, proved to be a wonderful host city. Known as one of the happiest countries in the world, Finland did not disappoint. The city’s vibrant atmosphere and friendly locals made for a welcoming and enjoyable stay.
Although similarities abound, the European Society of Endodontology (ESE) and their Biennial Congress has a somewhat different focus than the AAE and our annual meetings. The Congress was aimed at the entire dental team, including ESE specialist members, certified members, guest, postgraduate student, and dental nurse members, as well as representatives of the national societies affiliated with the ESE. Endodontists, general dental practitioners, postgraduate students, clinical academics, scientists, hospital-based dentists, and colleagues from the dental industry were all encouraged to attend.
The Scientific Program was extensive and diverse. It featured pre-congress courses, multiple lecture halls with specific focuses, symposia, sponsored lectures, prize competitions, oral presentations, and more. The range of topics covered allowed attendees to delve deep into the knowledge-base and clinical techniques in Endodontics.
In addition to the scientific program, there were various social events that provided opportunities for networking and catching up with colleagues. The Opening Ceremony and Welcome Reception set the tone for the congress, while the ESE Reception and Congress Dinner offered further chances to connect with fellow attendees.
I was honored to be participate as a panelist with two British colleagues, Drs. Obyda Essam and Shannon Patel, in Symposium 5: “Case Assessment and Artificial Intelligence”, Part 1: “Case Assessment Apps and Tools”. I delivered a well-received presentation on AAE’s Endo Case app. I was very impressed by my co-panelists’ assessment tools; one an advanced endodontic case assessment tool and the other, a dental practicality index to determine restorability and by my colleagues’ commitment to demonstrating the validity of these instruments as assessment tools.
President-Elect Dr. Natasha Flake, Executive Director Ken Widelka, and I had a productive meeting with ESE leadership, where we discussed our current collaboration, the updating of endodontic diagnostic terminology. The senior representative from AAE in this initiative is past president, Dr. Alan Law, and the senior representative from ESE is their president-elect Dr. Hal Duncan. Opportunities for future collaborations were also considered.
While at the ESE Congress we attended both the Board of Directors meeting and the General Assembly of the International Federation of Endodontic Associations (IFEA). AAE will be hosting IFEA’s World Endodontic Congress (WEC) in NYC in 2028 and I presented an update on the planning of this meeting. IFEA will hold WECs in Glasgow, Scotland in 2024 and in Sydney, Australia in 2026. These experiences remind me that we are part of a great world of endodontics, and I value our collaborations with international groups.
IFEA is spearheading the upcoming World Endodontic Day on October 16, which the AAE plans to celebrate. It will include a Global Endodontic Symposium with presentations by Dr. James Guttman and Dr. Lars Anderson. Learn more at https://www.ifeaendo.org/.
Celebrating World Endodontic Day aligns nicely with the AAE’s Worth Saving campaign which for a number of years now has broadcast the value of endodontics and endodontists to the world. This comes directly from our Strategic Goal 1: The public will value saving their natural teeth and seek endodontists – the specialists in saving teeth – for their care. An essential part of this is understanding what an endodontist does and how endodontists are different than general dentists.
In pursuit of this goal, I will be taking to the airwaves on a Satellite Media Tour. From a studio in New York City, I will take part in 20 or so interviews, with news stations throughout the country, all in the course of a single day (October 13).
This won’t be the first time the AAE’s has had a media presence in Manhattan – in the past, we’ve had three Times Square billboards, and we’re planning another one next May for Save Your Tooth Month!
While it’s important to make a big splash in an obvious way, it’s also critical to understand that everything we do relates back to our strategic plan. Every activation is the result of meticulous planning by our Marketing and Communications team.
One day of the upcoming AAE Interim Board of Directors Meeting will be devoted to a strategic planning exercise to update our current 2022-2025 plan. This meeting will take place October 6th and 7th in conjunction with ADA Smile Con.
Goal 1 has remained the same through the duration of both past iterations of the AAE’s Strategic Plan (2017–2020 and the latest 2022–2025 plan) and therefore it’s been around for the entirety of our Worth Saving campaign, informing everything we do. The latest Strategic Plan, however, has a slew of new outcomes, KPIs and tactics tailored for our new media age. For 2023-2024, they include:
- Opportunities for collaboration with other Associations
- Digital presence/content plans
- RCT safety and oral systemic health messaging
- Safety campaign (dental trauma and emergencies)
- Opportunities for members to engage and promote public awareness initiatives.
The outcomes we anticipate include:
- Increasing the value the public places on saving their natural teeth
- Increasing public awareness of the specialized training and expertise of endodontists
- Helping members see the value and participate in the public awareness initiatives
- Increasing public awareness of the relationship between oral health and systemic health
- Elevating the AAE’s digital presence
This year’s ESE Congress’ tagline was “Shedding Northern Lights on Endodontics”. And while I can see the glow of New York City from my New Jersey home, I can’t see the Northern Lights, but I like to think of our Worth Saving campaign and our other media initiatives as continually shining a light upon endodontics. Another example would be our Google digital ad campaigns. Thanks to the digital age, we can have opportunities to continually elevate our specialty. I invite you to visit aae.org/worthsaving to learn more about all aspects of Worth Saving.