President’s Message

-Mariana Velazquez, D.M.D.

Hello Fellow Members,

I would like to start by saying it has been an honor to serve as the president of the SFDDA. This has been for all a very particular year with unique challenges and unprecedented events. And our dental profession has not been the exception.

Starting with the mandate to shut down dental offices, to struggling with maintaining and/or furloughing our staff, to requesting loans, reopening our offices, reinforcing disinfection protocols, acquiring PPE, rehiring staff and attempting to get vaccinated, we have definitely had to reinvent ourselves in this process. Looking back, we are proud to say that we have come through this better than we expected.

In my opinion, the SFDDA has played a very important role in this. We have come up with new ways to reach out to our members to keep them up to date and informed about our ever-changing situation during this time. We felt that this was the perfect opportunity to boost our social media presence and to create new pathways of communication. Our Facebook and Instagram pages are now more effective than ever, and our updated website has been well received.

We have created our very own podcast which features our members and friends in the dental community talking about different issues and topics. It has proven to be very successful and entertaining. I am glad to report that despite these difficult circumstances, the SFDDA has remained financially strong and the membership has remained steady and loyal. I cannot help but give a shout-out again to the SFDDA being part of Dr. Cesar Sabates’s campaign and victory. And, he became the first Cuban American ADA President-Elect, and the first from Florida. We wish him all the best and we are here to support him.

I would like to thank all of the people that have been part of this journey, including my fellow SFDDA line officers, Drs. Oscar Peguero, Ernie Perez, John Aylmer, and Orlando Dominguez, as well as our council members and our wonderful staff, Yolanda, Jackie and Victoria.

While a lot has been done there is always room for improvement, and I am sure that our president-elect, Dr. Ernesto Perez will do a wonderful job next year.

Please stay safe, and I look forward to meeting you all in the near future as we commence our in-person meetings, hopefully in the fall, and of course at our state mandated courses in October, “Havana Nights” in December and our full day wellness event with Dr. Uche Odiatu the following day.