Region 8-Illinois AGD Represents at the 2015 Annual Session Meeting in San Francisco, CA

Illinois AGD 2015 MAGD Recipients:
Jeffrey R. Copeland, DDS, MAGD
Charles F. Martello, DDS, MAGD
Abbas H. Merchant, DDS, MAGD
Cheryl L. Mora, DDS, MAGD
Reuel D. Owen, DDS, MAGD

Illinois AGD 2015 FAGD Recipients:
Alex G. Alemis, DDS, FAGD
April S. Baier, DMD, FAGD
Benjamin A. Baptist, DDS, FAGD
Maureen Copeland, DDS, FAGD
Paul E. Etchison, DDS, FAGD
Jess W. Mikesell, DDS, FAGD
Richard R. Pellegrini, DDS, FAGD
Kristina Schiefelbein, DMD, FAGD
Lawrence P. Smith, DDS, FAGD
Bernice E. Teplitsky, DDS, FAGD
Andrew P. Wiers, DDS, FAGD

Region 8 is always proud of our awardees, and this year we saw another great group get honored. The Illinois 2015 Masters and Fellows along with their friends and families made the trip to participate in this year’s meeting and convocation ceremonies. We were also happy to have a group of Dental Students make the trip to be involved!

In between advocacy work, caucus meetings, and convocation ceremonies, members found time to tour historical locals such as Fisherman’s Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Meeting up for group dinners when possible gave the region’s attendees opportunity to socialize and have fun in between organized meeting events.

A special reception for Illinois and Wisconsin Awardees provided Dr. Larry Williams opportunity to thank Deb Noordhoff for her years of service to the Illinois AGD.

Andrew Fakhoury-DMD IV
Midwestern University
College of Dental Medicine – Illinois

This past June, I was fortunate enough to have received a scholarship fund from the Chicago Academy of General Dentistry. The scholarship provided me with the opportunity to attend the 2015 Academy of General Dentistry Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California. The AGD places a large emphasis on lifelong learning and attending this meeting definitely helped to facilitate that for me, as a student.  In this regard, we were able to attend Continuing Education courses. More specifically, I was able to attend Dr. Peter L. Jacobsen’s course on dental therapeutics/modern pharmacology and Dr. Glenn Clark’s course on orofacial pain and oral medicine.

Throughout the Annual Meeting, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend different meetings and witness deliberations that gave me greater understanding as to what the IL AGD and Chicago AGD component strive for. For example, the other dental students and I were invited to sit in for the Region 8 Caucus, which provided great insight to all of the “behind the scenes” work of the AGD. At the close of the meeting, we were able to see some of our familiar Illinois AGD dentists receive their FAGD, MAGD, and LLSR at the Convocation Ceremony. We were also invited to attend the post-ceremony celebration, which was a perfect way to bring the weekend’s events to a close!

I would like to sincerely thank the Academy of General Dentistry Illinois Delegation for being so approachable and hospitable! It was truly great to get to know everyone on a personal level. It is truly great to witness so much support for students from current dentists that are involved in organized dentistry!

Academy of General Dentistry 2015 Annual Meeting – San Francisco, CA

Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine-IL DSD Dental Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic

Andrew Fakhoury-DMD IV Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine – Illinois

August 29, 2015 – September 5, 2015 marked the Alpha Omicron Chapter of Delta Sigma Delta’s second annual dental relief mission trip to the Dominican Republic! We partnered up once more with Bright Island Outreach (BIO) to provide free dental services to the people of the community of San Pedro de Macorís. Twenty-five DSD dental students from Midwestern University-IL came together along with the dentists and volunteers from BIO to tackle the busy week ahead!

Those that were in attendance, which was a mix of D3 and D4 students, were exposed to a very unique working environment – quite different from our set-up back in Downers Grove! We worked in very close quarters, and the Dominican weather provided us with quite a hot and humid setting. Many stations had portable operative systems for restorative procedures, while the rest of the stations were left open for oral surgery and endodontic procedures and prophys. At the conclusion of the week, a total of 487 patients were seen and we accomplished 356 restorations, 298 extractions, 168 prophylaxes, and 6 endodontic procedures!

We also had the privilege of working with children from a local orphanage. Many of these children were intensely afraid to undergo any dental procedures at first, and it encouraged us all to exercise patience and empathy and to work closely with the translators that were provided. These children played a significant role in our experience, leaving all of us humbled and fulfilled at the end of the mission. They were so fond of us being there that they would stand around the doors watching and greeting us each day! At the end of every workday, our group made its way to the local baseball field for a little therapy session of laughs and sports. This helped to relieve the exhaustion of our labor and gave us the opportunity to interact with the children as well as other community members. One afternoon, several of our students handed out toys they had brought with them. This caused such an uproar of excitement that many of the children went running home to their parents to show them their new gifts. Without a doubt, these priceless moments humbled us and put smiles on our faces.

However, it wasn’t all work! On our first day, we were able to enjoy a pleasant tour of a nearby city’s downtown area and we had great dinner at a local historic restaurant. On our last day, we enjoyed a day trip to the breathtaking Saona Island followed by a final group dinner. What a perfect way to bring our mission trip to a close! Needless to say, the trip was a success and we all came home knowing that we made a difference. Lives were forever touched, lifelong friendships were formed, and memories were created that will last a lifetime. Now we can all look forward to our upcoming graduation in 2016 and our next dental relief mission!

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to both the Illinois Academy of General Dentistry and the Chicago Dental Society for their generous donations of scrubs for all of the students who participated in the DSD Alpha Omicron 2015 dental expedition. Those particularly instrumental were Dr. Cheryl Mora and Dr. Theresa Lao of the IL AGD, as well as Dr. Ted Borris and Ms. Lennoree Cleary of the CDS. The scrub donations were an important aspect of the trip and truly helped to unite us as a team. We are all very grateful for the support!

The Illinois & Wisconsin Fall Mastertrack CE Courses

Cheryl Mora, DDS, MAGD, IL AGD Past President, Mastertrack Committee

“A Clear Approach to Aligner Therapy What is Best for You and Your Patient by Dr. Neil Warshawsky, commenced our 2015-2016 IL & WI Mastertrack program at Henry Schein in Elmhurst, IL. The program started with a review of some of the best technology available today in dentistry.  We discussed practice management issues, as well as techniques to help drive business growth.  Following an entire morning dedicated to practice management, dental technology, and understanding patients’ needs, we turned our focus to clear aligner therapy.  We learned the different methods available for moving teeth using a clear aligner and several commercially available systems were studied.  We then planned, designed, and built an an Essix retainer and also a HIT retainer to close diastemas between anterior teeth.  We learned how to make a retainer with a pontic to hide edentulous sites and I used that technique on Monday morning with a patient who had an implant placed in the anterior. We also learned how to create a digital surgical guide for implant placement. Dr. Warshawsky also discussed how to incorporate 3-D printing into our practices and the economics of owning a 3-D printer. This program was designed for general dentists and had a great deal of take home information on orthodontic treatment and techniques even for those dentists who don’t do orthodontics. Dr. Neil Warshawsky is a five time graduate of the University of Illinois.  Today, he is an associate professor of surgery for the Craniofacial Center at the University, where he oversees the orthodontic clinic. In addition, he owns and operates Get It Straight Orthodontics.   The IL AGD would like to thank PNC Bank, Dentsply Raintree Essix, Opal Orthodontics by Ultradent, Hu-Friedy, Propel Orthodontics and Henry Schein for their support of this program.

Our second program, “Current Methods in Periodontal Therapy, Including a Periodontist’s View of Implant Dentistry” by Dr. June Lim was held on October 23rd and 24th also at Henry Schein in Elmhurst. The most common treatment for periodontal disease is wait and see and this state of affairs is not without justification. Periodontitis is a chronic disease without a cure and similar to most chronic diseases, early detection and treatment initiation results in better outcomes. We reviewed the current literature and treatment recommendations for periodontal disease and discussed appropriate long term treatment plans to avoid unpredictable procedures. During the course, we discussed appropriate treatment options including dental implants for various degrees of periodontal disease as well as the indications and protocols for socket grafting. Recognition of adequate tissue requirements for implant placement can lead to timely treatment while avoiding difficult and unpredictable procedures and outcomes. We learned treatment planning and site preparation for implant placement, including a hands-on demonstration. Decellularized dermis grafting, socket grafting and ridge augmentation, and crown lengthening were discussed, demonstrated and practiced on pig jaws. Dr. Jun S. Lim received his D.D.S. from Columbia University and his M.S. and Certificate in Periodontics from The Ohio State University. Dr. Lim has been an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry since 2007. He has had a private practice limited to Periodontics & Implantology in Chicago since 1994.