AOS MEMBERSHIP NEWS AOS Institute Hosts Spring Meeting; Launch of AOS App Greetings from the close of the AOS Spring Meeting! It is my great pleasure to report that the meeting was a resounding success; it had the highest attended Spring meeting ever and we were fortunate enough to celebrate it in our new facility – The American Orthodontic Soci-ety Institute! The AOS Institute is an incredible and professional space with the best of technology to facili-tate ease of learning. Releasing our mobile application, which can be found on the App Store as “AOS Institute” shared similar success and has become another means to access course schedules, members, meeting dates, and even the journals…all at our fingertips! In the madness of what dentistry has become, I take pause to recall my why. Why am I a dentist and even more so, why add orthodontic treatment to my clinical repertoire? I am a pediatric dentist and it seems that accommodating patients and satisfying parents becomes increasingly difficult. Don’t get me wrong, this is still the most wonderful job in the world, however, the expecta-tions to restore what has been neglected for years, along-side our battles with insurance and ever-increasing costs of both equipment and staff make it more and more chal-lenging to do what we do. What is our why, and more specifically what was your why for adding orthodontics to your practice? A great meeting is an excellent reminder! The cama-raderie of our peers and the joint learning pushes us to be our best clinical selves. Few enjoy doing things in which they feel neither competent and/or confident. Meetings give us those ‘pearls’ to perform to our greatest potential in service of our patients. Whether it is diagnosis, treat-ment, materials, management …we are afforded hands-Susan B. Tiede, DDS AOS President on access to all of this and leave energized with the latest and greatest information. When we return to some of the challenges of our daily practices, we remember that we are not alone and, in fact, have a great network of colleagues who have, “been there, and truly done that.” Feeling pride upon completing treatment is one of the absolute greatest feelings. Our patients say, “Thank you, Doctor,” and we can see the lasting impression of their smile, gratitude, and obvious increased confidence. Attending meetings and picking up those pointers that elevate us is incredibly rewarding. As we move into summer and soon fall, be sure to mark your calendars for the Fall meeting, October 17-19 in Grapevine, TX. Check out the AOS website for infor-mation and watch for registration, as we’ll be celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the AOS and there is so much to commemorate. www.orthodontics.com Spring 2024 33
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society Spring 2024: Page 33
