By: Bryan Savage, DDS

My path has been similar to many of yours. Dental school, residency, starting and building a practice, while getting married and raising kids along the way. Through those years, “free” time was limited and created a barrier to getting involved in organized dentistry. The financial stresses of being a new grad and building a practice made it necessary for me to scrutinize my expenses.

One expense that I can honestly say I never considered optional were my membership dues to the ADA or, as a pediatric dentist, to the AAPD. My mentors had stressed the importance of these organizations throughout dental school and residency. I did and still do consider these expenses to be part of my responsibility to our profession. A profession that I believe is one of the greatest. It is a privilege to do what we do, and these organizations help protect and advance our profession and protect the patients we serve. However, things are shifting, and I have to ask myself why? Why do people not see things the same as this old guy?! Why is membership decreasing? When I graduated from dental school in 2003, more than 80% of dentists belonged to the ADA. In just over 20 years, we have dropped to approximately 50%. We are getting dangerously close to a level that will impair our ability to have an impactful voice where it is needed most. Then, who will have the influence? It will likely not be a group that has the interest of most dentists as their primary focus. I realize that I am preaching to the choir here. You are all members of MDDS, and each of you has reasons for your membership. What are those reasons? Is it the CE, including admission to our great RMDC? Is it the numerous networking and social opportunities organized by our hardworking team? Is it a desire to be part of the voice that protects our interests at the state capital or in Washington DC? We would like to hear your why. I would also ask each of you to share those reasons with any non-member colleague. If each of us could influence just one person to join, we would be at nearly 100% membership.

Through the encouragement and support of my colleagues, I have been blessed to join the Board of Directors at MDDS. Over the past three years, I have witnessed one of the greatest teams I have worked with in action. If you don’t know the five team members who run our organization and the RMDC, you should seek out an opportunity to meet them. They include Shelly Fava, Executive Director (20 years); Korinna Milam, Director of Convention & Events (26 years); Marlene Pakish, Manager of Finance & Operations (11 years); Jill Kingen, Director of Business Development (11 years); and Cara Stan, Director of Marketing & Membership (10 years).

These team members, along with a dedicated group of volunteer dentists, have put together one of the country’s best dental conferences for years now. Along the way, they also organize numerous other CE opportunities, both online and in person, at MWDI. Many of these opportunities are free to members and their dental teams. Take advantage of them. They are high-quality and many help you meet requirements for licensure. See the MDDS website (mddsdentist.com) for a current list of offerings.

Becoming part of this Board has taught me a great deal. I was isolated in my private practice bubble for a little too long. The members of this Board are a good representation of our dental community. We have dentists from private practice, public health, education, retirement, newer dentists, mid-career, seasoned dentists, three different specialties, and of course, general dentistry. We are a diverse group, and the conversations during our meetings are better because so many voices are represented. I have personally gained more respect for all the moving parts that are required to provide dental care to our patients. It takes all of us, and we here at MDDS would like to know how we can support you in your particular arena.

The bottom line is that organized dentistry is a crucial part of our profession, but we are slowly losing our impact as membership declines. It is imperative that we gain a better understanding of what our members value and want so we can be there for you. The dynamics of our Society continues to change, and with that, we realize that we must adapt to the new needs of all dentists. At MDDS, our primary focus is on continuing education. We intend to continue to provide more options both in person and online and have plans for the Rocky Mountain Dental Convention (RMDC) to become an even bigger and better show over the coming years. We believe these provide our members with a huge benefit, but our job is to always listen and try to do better. My ask is for you to please give a few minutes to complete the survey below to help us provide you with more value.

Take the member survey HERE.