LETTERS Crisis was a Teachable Moment Congratulations, everyone. New York State dental offices are finally open. I, for one, will take the win. I am grateful that part of this ordeal is over. However, all New York State dentists have been put on notice. We need to prepare. We need to engage with one another, with our local components and with NYSDA directly. My hope is we can start a productive dialogue, learn from our mistakes, and be a force to be reckoned with in the future. My purpose in writing this letter is not to criticize or single out any individuals for blame but, rather, to stress that we need to learn from our mistakes, or we will be doomed to repeat them. I realize this is a cliché, but it is the truth. I don’t know about you, but when I have a less-than-ideal outcome clinically, I perform a self-review to see if I can improve and avoid mistakes in the future. This is no different. We cannot afford to be complacent. When an anticipated “second wave” hits New York, what is the plan? Many people have criticized NYSDA for its response to this crisis. A voluntary closure for the public good became a three-month mandate. We were blindsided. But this time, we know it is coming. We need a prepared protocol, a public outreach campaign and a strong lobbying position beforehand. We are professionals and a critical part of healthcare. It is hard not to take the blatant lack of respect displayed to our profession personally. We deserve and should demand more dignity then we received. What is the plan for when the governor wants to impose another mandated restriction? We cannot tolerate further disruption to patient care. Media coverage of our situation was abysmal. We watched with dismay as auxiliary dental staff spread fear and doubt about our ability to protect them and our patients. We saw individual dentists brag about updates to their offices, unsubstantiated gadgets they had purchased and idiosyncratic procedures they had adopted. My interpretation of these reports was no more than sly, or not-so-sly advertising intended to sow fear and distrust of other dental offices. NYSDA needs to launch a PR campaign that will start to heal the damage caused by the recent depiction of our profession in the media. We need to look back and see why we were not controlling the message. We need to be prepared to advocate for our profession as a block. The small gains we can make as individuals pale in comparison to the cost of eroding public trust in dentistry. I am concerned also about lack of transparency. My hats are off to NYSDA for getting the job done. I am incredibly grateful to the individuals, almost all of whom are volunteers, who took time away from their own personal and professional struggles to fight for all of us. Let those of us who sat on the sidelines show some gratitude. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask questions.
8 JUNE/JULY 2020 The New York State Dental Journal ●
I have seen a lot of talk online about people’s concerns about organized dentistry. Some people have even said they want to terminate their membership. I understand, and at times during this crisis, I felt the same way. I have decided that for me, the solution is to become more involved. There is too much at stake to become jaded and non-contributory. My generation needs to rise up and take its rightful place at the highest places of power within NYSDA. I hope we can be a source of dramatic change—not one that seeks to dismantle and destroy but one that revitalizes and restores. We owe nothing less to ourselves and, more importantly, to the patients we serve. Joseph P. Denning, D.D.S. Schenectady, NY NYSDA was there for its Members and will be in the Future Thank you for your letter, Dr. Denning. We appreciate all input— positive and negative—from our members as we strive for continuous improvement at NYSDA. I know you wrote out of some frustration, but also out of passion for the Association and the profession of dentistry. The seven weeks that dental offices were open only for urgent and emergency services were difficult for all of us, but all the while, NYSDA was advocating continuously on your behalf. The work was tenuous and delicate on many occasions, and we chose to keep our communications with state, regional and local leaders somewhat quiet so as not to confuse or threaten any of the progress being made. I take your point that we could have been more transparent throughout the negotiation process. Let me try to partially remedy that by sharing the steps that, ultimately, led to a successful reopening on June 1. Beginning on March 16, when Gov. Cuomo issued an executive order limiting dentists to only “emergency and urgent” care, NYSDA got right to work advocating on behalf of our members. Our primary focus was always on speeding up the adoption of state guidelines and laying out the quickest possible timeline for dentists to reopen their offices. All the while, we advocated non-stop against phased reopening and on behalf of a broad statewide reopening. Behind the scenes, we were in constant contact with the governor’s and lieutenant governor’s offices, the Speaker of the House, the Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate, the Health Department, health policy leaders in the administration, legislators across the entire state, and other elected officials at the county and local levels, as well as the governor’s “Reopening New York” advisory task force, on which Dr. Amarilis Jacobo serves. Over the course of our discussions, we learned that these decision makers
