Your Membership Working for You!

Ada

n SmileCon will be held October 5–7th in Orlando, FL.

Wmdds

n The West Michigan MDA delegation has been elected and is ready to serve you. Please send any concerns or comments for the delegation to efwmdds@aol.com.

n WMDDS applied for a public relations grant from the Michigan Dental Association and was awarded $4,140. This money will be used in 2023 to fund a Tooth Fairy dental event for Great Start in Montcalm County, for oral hygiene supplies for Kent County Oral Health Coalition, and to stock a WMDDS Toothbrush Bank with oral hygiene supplies to fill requests from community organizations.

n An American Dental Association ARC grant of $3,000 was awarded to WMDDS for the New Dentist Forum. They will use the money for a future NDF event in 2023.

Mda

n Register for Annual Session at DeVos Place in Grand Rapids, May 3–6th.

n Medicaid reform changes started to take effect January 1, 2023. The 2023/2024 Michigan state budget includes an $85 million investment (44% of the total from the federal government) for adult dental services and the first increase in fees in 30 years.

n On February 12th, current and past LEAD program participants visited ADA headquarters in Chicago. WMDDS members included Sarah Bouwkamp, Jayne Kessel, and Daniel Miller.

n In December, the MDA Board of Trustees approved WMDDS members Erick Rupprecht and Dan Peters to the PAC Board and the MDAF Board respectively.

With the all-new Smileloc® by RODO, the world of implant dentistry has reached a new height. Utilizing a modern workflow, Smileloc® helps both patients and Dentists by delivering the highest quality of treatment outcome with significantly reduced chair time and complications.

How It Works

The Smileloc® is made from nitinol, which is a commonly used material in the medical industry. The unique “memory” characteristics of this alloy initiates reshaping of the Smileloc® when heat is applied. The Smileloc® is delivered in a “locked” position with its eight arms (four inner and four outer) ready for placement on the abutment for final seating of the restoration. When positioned with Smileloc® Seater, the four inner arms of the Smileloc® lock under the top of the abutment while the four outer arms lock the coping of the crown in place.

The Smilekey® is used to remove prostheses retained by the Smileloc® without occlusal holes or damaging the prostheses. The Smilekey® unlocks the Smileloc® by delivering energy (heat) for a preset time causing the Smileloc® to reach its designated activation temperature. Smilekey® is provided non-sterile and contains a rechargeable lithium battery.

Bill Hodges VP of Business Development (810) 620-0247

billh@rododigital.com

Kent County

Len Bartoszewicz, DDS Vice President

Ottawa County

Kent

County Dental Society doclendo@yahoo.com

Greetings from the Kent County Dental Society Board! I hope your new year is off to great start. On January 25, 2023, KCDS held the second of its three lectures for the year, entitled: “Pathology in Your Practice: When Biopsies are Recommended.”

Dr. Theodara Danciu, a clinical professor from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry’s Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, gave the lecture via Zoom, and over fifty KCDS members attended a wonderful program. The last of Kent County Dental Society’s sponsored lectures will be held in-person at Watermark Country Club on Wednesday, March 15, beginning with the social hour at 6:00pm, and dinner and lecture immediately following at 6:30pm. The course title is "Dental Insurance Trends and Your Practice Success." This course will be led by Stephanie Smith, who is a practice prosperity advisor with Innovative Advisory Solutions. If you have suggestions for next year’s meetings, please e-mail them to DocLendo@yahoo.com or call me: (616) 245-9830. See you March 15th!

Tom Anderson, DDS WMDDS Ottawa County Representative tander7480@aol.com

We had a great turnout at our last meeting on January 18th. Our next meeting will be held on February 15th, at Macatawa Legends. The meeting will again be sponsored by Huntington Bank and NDX labs. Our topic at that meeting will be ZimVie (Zimmer Biomet Implants). We also have another meeting scheduled on March 15th and Klas Solution will be our presenter, sponsored by Huntington Bank and PNC Bank. We plan to have a meeting on 3D printing in April. The date of that meeting will be announced soon. If you’re not getting the emails about the meetings, please email me at tander7480@aol.com. We hope to see you soon!

West Michigan Dental Foundation

Brad Robinson, DDS , MD WMDF President

bradley.m.robinson.dds@gmail.com

The WMDF is in the process of interviewing applicants for tuition grants. Each year the applicants are more and more competitive. Each applicant is committed to West Michigan and continues to ensure our community growth. We have been lucky enough in recent years to provide an increasing number of scholarships. It is our hope that we can continue this tradition. We could not do it without the generous support our community has provided. We continue to support educational and service programs that are dedicated to the improvement of oral health through our community grants. Grants are usually limited to educational projects, treatment-based projects, supplies, and equipment. Please contact us with any questions. We are looking forward to another great year in 2023.

New Dentist Forum

Jeffrey Heinz, DDS, MSD New Dentist Forum Co-Chairperson jeffreymheinz@gmail

Sabrina Wadood, DDS New Dentist Forum Co-Chairperson sabrina.wadood@gmail.com

The New Dentist Forum had another great turnout at our recent CE event in January at GRBC. Dr. AJ Lytle lectured about digital workflows in implant dentistry and brought in some of the technology available to assist in guided surgery for members to become familiar with. Join us at our next CE event on Thursday, March 23, 2023, with Dr. Graham Greenland to discuss endocrowns. We expect another great event!

Kent County Oral Health Coalition

Colette

Smiley, DDS, Co-Chair of Kent County Oral Health Coalition

colettesmiley@gmail.com n Education and Awareness of Oral Health. The need for increased education around benefits offered by insurance and the importance of preventive dental care. n Accessibility of Resources and Care in the Greater Grand Rapids Area. Specifically, the difficulty in scheduling appointments and finding providers participating with insurance. n Quality of Care. Overall, the quality of care was seen as high, but the type of insurance was noted to impact the care received. n Cost of Care. The cost of oral health was discussed, particularly out-of-pocket costs. Seeking inexpensive treatment in other countries or turning to a less expensive alternative for care (i.e., online orthodontics) were mentioned more than once. n Children’s Oral Health Care. Many parents discussed taking their children to the dentist at an early age. Access to children’s oral health was noted to have increased, but cultural barriers to children’s care and lack of education about appropriate treatments exist. n Adult Oral Health Care. Participants described what oral health means to them (brushing daily, flossing, visiting the dentist regularly). Some expressed feeling self-conscious about teeth/mouth appearance and how this impacts their lives. n Personal Stories. Many personal stories were shared about oral health, including issues with treatment or insurance and pain experienced from various treatments or procedures.

Late last year, the KCOHC held two listening sessions with Grand Rapids community members. The purpose was to understand better how our community views their personal oral health, their children’s oral health, and their experiences with oral healthcare. The themes that emerged (see below) will inform the Coalition’s work and efforts in 2023.