Fellow Dental Professionals,
As professionals, we must continually upgrade and refresh our knowledge, not only because it’s a requirement, but because we care about giving the best up-to-date treatment options to our patients.
We have many opportunities to do this and no one format suits everyone’s needs.
Continuing education has become big business, and a big industry has developed around it. From the early roots of our profession, dentists formed groups, study clubs, and organizations to enable them to communicate with each other for the betterment of the care they were providing to the patients who gave them their trust. Many of these early groups continue to this day.
The system works when everyone works together towards a common goal. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
The Toronto Academy of Dentistry keeps a calendar, listing all the events for all dental organizations so that no conflicts arise. This is a free service for the profession and the dental industry. This information is available on the Academy website, or a quick telephone call to the office will update the organization of any conflicts, when looking to schedule a course or an event.
The Toronto Academy of Dentistry has been in existence for over 120 years. It has been providing a forum for continuing education and networking for 74 years with Winter Clinic.
The funds raised from those efforts has provided tens of thousands of dollars to the community we serve, Children’s Aid Society, Toronto Help Phone Line, March of Dimes, Hospital for Sick Children, Bloorview, University of Toronto, shelters and many others.
The date for Winter Clinic is announced one year in advance. Everyone knows it is a fixture in the Toronto community. Great effort is made to not conflict with other groups. The dates available are limited to those provided by the Metro Toronto Convention Center. No other facility is sufficient to meet our needs.
The Toronto Academy of Dentistry and Winter Clinic is a function of the four Toronto component societies of the Ontario Dental Association, namely Toronto North, Toronto East, Toronto Central and Toronto West. With the exception of a very small office staff, the entire organization is run by volunteers who receive nothing but the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction from their efforts of a job well done.
When you attend Winter Clinic, you support your society, your association and the community you serve. You also receive first class education and have a good day at the same time.
Much is being said of the falling reputation and esteem of our profession. Competition is rearing its ugly head. When you attend a competing programme, ask not only who are you supporting, but who are you hurting? Support any organization you are comfortable with and take in as much CE as you can.
For the most part, no matter who is providing the programmes you are usually receiving high quality, but if you attend a CE course on November 4, we hope you choose Winter Clinic because everyone wins when you do.
See you there!
Dr. Robert Greenbaum
President, Toronto
Academy of Dentistry
