Becoming Global Leaders in Endodontics

At this year’s AAE20 meeting we are offering an exciting new program! The AAE will be hosting the very first International Endodontic Forum at AAE20 in Nashville in hopes of stimulating opportunities for  international collaboration.

Historically, the AAE hosts leaders from several international endodontic societies, academies, confederations and associations. The AAE Executive Committee would meet with each group individually for 30 minutes over the course of two days with an ear to listening to their successes and problems. We would see in what areas we could be of assistance, get appropriate pictures and addresses and then we would have to get ready for the next incoming group.

Frequently in these sessions, we would hear similar problems but solved with different solutions. This year, the leadership from all of the identified groups from the past meetings and a few new groups will be invited to attend a lunch followed with short presentations highlighting initiatives from each group. We will then break out in small groups, identify commonalities in problems we have and offer each other suggestions and solutions. All our information will be summarized at the conclusion and used to plan for  the second International Endodontic Forum at AAE21 in Atlanta. It is our sincere hope that all parties will have a “take home” from this interaction and that this will help foster further communications and collaborations.

This is really a big deal because it brings me back to a favorite subject, the AAE strategic plan.

Last year at this time, we demonstrated our leadership in our first goal, “The public will value saving their natural teeth and seek endodontists – the specialists in saving teeth – for their care” with our response to Root Cause. Furthermore,  our second goal of, “The dental profession will value endodontists as partners with advanced expertise in restoring oral health.” was supported by the fact  both  presidents of the American Dental Association and the American Association of Dental Research joined our president, Dr. Rick Taylor in the condemnation of said movie.

Our third goal of being recognized as global leaders in advocating the value and quality of endodontics is the cornerstone for us organizing this forum. Overall, all the international endodontic groups that I have met with this year have had wonderful CE programs and outstanding speakers. However, many international groups are wrestling with competency issues/differences, certification issues and shortage of funding for research. Many groups have multinational representation  which can further complicate these issues.

I am hoping our AAE leadership and  experience can be of benefit to help stimulate fruitful discussion! The new insight that is gained will benefit future planning meetings and may lead to collaborative efforts and possible collaborative meetings.

I have one last point. This is yet another example of events beginning in one presidency and concluding in subsequent years. The long range planning that has been developed from the strategic plan will continue to be pushed forward by the EC and Board at our annual meeting.  Look to the future for more developments! See you in Nashville at AAE20!