EDITOR’S WELCOME Greg Cannizzo, DDS, CDE, JAOS Editor 3617 Municipal Drive, McHenry, IL 60050 Phone: (815) 344-2282 • Fax: (815) 344-5815 Email: drgrc@joltmail.com ASSOCIATION STAFF Adam Griswold AGpO Executive Director Academy of Gp Orthodontics 509 E. Boydston St. Rockwall, TX 75087-3956 (800) 634-2027 E-mail: agriswold@academygportho.com Nate Porter AOS Executive Director American Orthodontic Society 2451 West Grapevine Mills Circle Suite 510 Grapevine, TX 76051 E-mail: support@orthodontics.com What Can We Learn from Surfers? I am not a surfer. Growing up and living in the Chicago area my entire life gave me very few opportunities to take up the sport. However, I can see the appeal of surfing. I do have a sister-in-law who loves to surf as a hobby, and those men and women who have an affinity with the ocean waves are heroes to many. When done well, there are few athletic feats more poetic, powerful and graceful than a surfer riding a great wave. In the times I’ve been able to visit Hawaii, I have watched the surfing warriors battling the ocean waves all day long. In considering the art of surfing, I think there is a very important prin-ciple that we can learn from surfers. You see, despite the talent, experi-ence and proficiency of the surfer, every time they stand up on a board, he or she is virtually guaranteed to fall. In the search for the perfect wave and the perfect ride, surfers fall off many, many times. Some of the most spectacular falls come after the most incredible rides. It almost seems cruel that such a feat can be followed by arms and legs flailing through the air at all angles. But that’s the way of the surfer. You can sit safely on the beach and be envious of those who are risking their health on a board. Or, you can take a deep breath and start paddling in the knowledge that you are virtually guaranteed to be unceremoniously dumped at some stage. This is the lesson I have learned from surfers. To do anything that’s worthwhile will involve risk, pain, falling, look-ing ungraceful and being at the mercy of the waves. But there is no other way. If you sit on the beach watching, you’ll never achieve anything of significance. Adding and making orthodontics a part of the treatment you provide to your patients can sometimes be like surfing. There are times you may get knocked down and have difficulty with a case, but your instructors, this Journal and your great organizations are here to help you get back up if that should happen. You don’t want to end up sitting on the sidelines watching. Taking the great courses available to you as well as attending the Annual Meetings and working toward tier advancement will help hone and elevate your skills, but you must attend and put in the time. Doing all this is a lot like the constant practice that surfers undertake to learn to ride that perfect wave. As Laird Hamilton, the famous surfer once said, “Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears.” Dentistry and surfing are both physical, but you can’t get down on yourself when you stumble, and you must get past whatever is keeping you from advancing your orthodontic training. Much like surfers, we may find ourselves falling and splashing around but we need to remember those moments when it all goes right and focus on what we need to do to achieve that. Our organizations are here to help and advance you. For the surfer, there are those moments when everything falls into place and they seem to float effort-lessly across the sea, as board and wave become one. In that moment of intoxicating glory, all the previous falls are forgotten. And at the end of the ride, the surfer paddles back to the ocean to find a few more seconds of ecstasy. And that’s the way life was meant to be ---whether it’s surf-ing or orthodontics, you put in the time learning and practicing, you will stumble or fall at times but do it gracefully and get back up and ask and look for help. It’s a heck of a ride. Kowabunga! EDITORIAL STAFF Greg Cannizzo, DDS ............. AGpO/AOS Editor Jordan Balvich, DMD ........................ AOS Co-Editor Jim Mcllwain, DDS, MSD .................. AOS Co-Editor Lisa A. Wright ......................... AOS/AGpO Managing Editor Email: jaos@wrightgrp.com EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD Robert Allen, DDS.................................AGpO Ron Austin, DDS...................................AGpO Chris Baker, RN, DMD .............................AOS Kauser Bari, DDS ...................................AGpO Jeff Dahm, DDS........................................AOS Fred Der, DDS .......................................AGpO Elsa Echeverri, DDS..................................AOS Drew Ellenwood, DDS ..........................AGpO Debra Ettle-Resnick, DDS.........................AOS Twana Farley-Duncan, DDS.....................AOS Majid Feshresti, DDS.............................AGpO Edward Gonzalez, Jr., DMD .....................AOS Thomas Jacobsen, DDS.........................AGpO Gregory T. Jeneary, DDS ..........................AOS Amanda Larsh, DMD ............................AGpO Brian Machart, DDS..............................AGpO Kyle McCrea, DDS ................................AGpO Sherman Menser, DDS..........................AGpO Randy Newby, DDS..................................AOS Minh-Khol Nguyen, DDS .....................AGpO Milton Ntragatakis, DDS.......................AGpO Humberto Nunez-Gil, DMD .................AGpO Ann Mary Orr, DDS .................................AOS Jennifer Rand, DDS...............................AGpO Raphael Santore, DDS...........................AGpO Joseph R. Schmidbauer, DDS ...................AOS Gary Schulman, DDS ...............................AOS Robert Shirley, DDS ..............................AGpO Kimberly Suter, DDS ................................AOS Susan Tiede, DDS .....................................AOS Walter Tippen, DDS ..............................AGpO Jose E. Turcios, DDS .................................AOS Saskia Vaughn, DDS.................................AOS Bradford R. Williams, DDS ......................AOS William Wyatt, Sr., DDS ..........................AOS 4 Winter 2024 JAOS
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society JAOS Winter 2024: Page 4
