AOS MEMBERSHIP NEWS The Future is Now With AOS Happy New Year to all our members and best wishes for a prosperous 2020. Following up on my December e-brief message, I hope that you are implementing into your practice what you’ve learned from the AOS this past year and transitioning from theory to practice with the outstanding knowledge provided by our AOS faculty and all the magnificent mentors you’ve met. Our Society begins its 45th year of continuous educa-tion and service to our members. The tradition of high quality education and genuine interest in seeing every member succeed remains at the core of the American Orthodontic Society ’ s mission. As President, I have our Board of Directors looking at all options to improve our products and services, from classroom courses with hands-on exercises and online education to a widening presence on social media. Today’s young dentists are leaving with more student debt than ever before. They want to be chal-lenged and taught new techniques, but in a cost effective and efficient manner. They increasingly rely on digital media and videos to learn new techniques and advance their knowledge. However, they still depend on recommendations from colleagues and mentors. Your help in each of these areas is impor-tant in attracting new members to our group. We’re cognizant of all the changes taking place in dentistry, and we’re determined to stay ahead of trends, and even set new ones if necessary. Even though we ’ ve traditionally been an organization focused on teach-ing orthodontics using straight-wire braces, and will remain that way in the foresee-able future, we also understand the impact, strengths and limita-tions, and growing popularity of aligner therapy. Therefore, we are Allan Rotberg, DDS offering new courses designed for AOS President both experienced aligner practi-tioners and those that have never before given that service to their patients. Teaming with our long-time friends, Henry Schein Orthodontics, we just taught our first three aligner courses in Chicago, Dallas, and Tulsa. This will continue into 2020 with more dates and cities for you to choose from. Finally, I can’t close without thanking our recently retired Executive Director, Tom Chapman, for his two decades of committed and outstanding service to the AOS, and wishing our new director and long-time employee Barbara Zuniga the best as she takes the reigns for our 45th year! She ’ ll do a wonderful job as our new Director. I hope to see all of you in the coming months with the many outstanding programs we have planned and the amazing orthodontic continuing education courses that we always provide. The AOS Annual Meeting will be held in Atlanta, Georgia on September 10-13. 2020, so please mark your calendars. Allan Rotberg, DDS www.orthodontics.com Winter 2020 45
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society Winter 2020: Page 45
