Dr. Gila Dorostkar - President

One of the shining beacons of light for me during the challenging time of the COVID-19 shutdown was organized dentistry. I distinctly recall waking up every morning of the shutdown and first checking the CDA and ADA websites for the latest news and guidelines. It gave me a feeling of hope and support that I wasn’t alone in navigating those uncertain times.

Belonging to and actively engaging in my dental organizations has always been an important part of my career and the COVID-19 pandemic and its challenges only reinforced my belief that all dentists need to belong to organized dentistry to keep our profession strong.

I am carrying that message into my year as your CSPD president in the hope that I can reinforce the value of belonging to CSPD and even persuade non-members to join.

My first efforts are focused on making our members all feel connected and part of a community. I am guessing that we are all craving seeing colleagues again and attending in-person meetings. With the creation of Pop Up Events, CSPD has already hosted two PALS courses and a financial awareness webinar for Early Career Pediatric Dentists during these first few months. We also launched our member newsletter, CSPD CONNECT, and updated our online continuing education platform to offer a vast array of online CE opportunities. We have designated post-doctoral resident liaisons with every program in the state to broaden our communication with our educational programs. And that is just the beginning. With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, look for many more hosted opportunities to connect and learn. CSPD needs to prove member value and I can assure you that your Board is dedicated and actively engaged on many levels in planning programs and opportunities to do so.

The second part of my effort this year in keeping CSPD strong and relevant is increasing our membership numbers and breadth across the state. Sometimes I think people view CSPD as an organization focusing mainly on private practitioners’ needs. I believe we need to intentionally recruit across all the various pediatric dentistry practice models. This includes our colleagues in public health, academics, and also in corporate dental offices. After all, CSPD cares about all children in California regardless of what kind of practice they are in. We want all pediatric dentists to be a part of the CSPD family.

Membership Services Committee Chair, Mitch Poiset, has designed a recruitment campaign inviting non-member pediatric dentists to join CSPD. Stay tuned for the results. Size does matter. If CSPD is to continue to stay relevant in the legislative issues that concern children’s oral health and pediatric dentists in our state, we need to show policymakers that we are an organization that represents a vast percentage of pediatric dentists in California.

The Warren Brandli Leadership Interns’ project this year is themed “Race for Relevance”. I have asked our interns to look at the realities of memberships in professional organizations in today’s world and evaluate what associations need to do to remain relevant in the future. How can CSPD continue to recruit and engage members, especially in our younger demographic? What do professional associations need to do differently to remain relevant in our fast-paced and electronic world?

A third effort within CSPD is to ensure that we are flexible and innovative enough to address these new challenges. CSPD can’t keep doing things the same way. One such challenge is presented by the many bills and proposals presently before the state legislature that will affect our members and the children in California.

I would like to make you aware of one legislative effort in particular that CSPD has been engaged with over the past several months, AB 733. Under our immediate past president Nancy Hsieh’s direction, I formed an AB 733 workgroup which includes Drs. Natalie Mansour, Santos Cortez, Lindsey Robinson, Mitch Poiset, Paul Reggiardo and myself. I have tasked the group to evaluate and make recommendations to the Board of Directors.

AB 733 is jointly sponsored by the California Dental Association and the California Dental Hygienists’ Association. Its intent is to allow Registered Dental Hygienists in Alternative Practice (RDHAPs) to provide services as independent contractors in medical offices to improve access to dental care for Medi-Cal Dental beneficiaries without a dental home and to increase medical-dental integration. This access-to-care effort is anticipated to be widely supported by legislative members who are eagerly looking for ways to provide care for the 52% of California’s children covered by the Medi-Cal Dental Program. Our AB 733 Workgroup had immediate concerns about many aspects of this legislation.

I am pleased to tell you that because of CSPD’s involvement at the ground level, we are optimistic that amendments proposed by CSPD will be incorporated in the legislation that increases the likelihood that children will receive appropriate care. The amendments would include conversion of the legislation into a three-to-five year pilot project requiring an independent outcomes evaluation to assess success in increasing the number of Medi-Cal enrolled children entering the dental delivery system and establishing a true dental home. In 2019, only 51% of children enrolled in the Medi-Cal program visited a dental office while 84% of the same group visited a physician. Program success would be measured by how many more of these children establish a dental home, not how many received preventive care by a RDHAP in a medical setting.

This is currently a two-year bill which will next be heard in the 2022 legislative session, allowing for a more detailed discussion among the stakeholders. CSPD will keep you informed as discussions progress. In the meantime, please contact me directly with your concerns, feedback, and questions.

We will always have as our foundation the dedication to our vision of exemplary oral health for all infants, children and adolescents. CSPD will remain steadfast in everything we do to support our mission to serve our members and the public in advocating for them. We just need to do so more nimbly and strategically in today’s world. CSPD must stay relevant if we are going to have a voice and a continued seat at the table.

I am dedicated and determined to keep CSPD meaningful for our members and California’s children. I encourage you to stay engaged with our leadership this year as we strive to win the race for relevance.

Dr. Paul Reggiardo - Executive Director

Sometime in 1974 a letter of inquiry was sent to those dentists in California identified as limiting their practice to children (I believe they were known then as Pedodontists) soliciting interest in forming a state specialty organization. About 25 responded (only one, Dr. Eva Sulon, was a female practitioner) and thus was subsequently born the California Academy of Pedodontics, a state-wide professional society dedicated to developing continuing dental education programs, resolving issues with third party insurance carriers, creating a peer review body, and organizing internal quality controls and business practices benefiting membership.

A lot has happened to our little society of brothers and a few sisters since 1974, most of it good and some of it great. We now count close to 1,000 members and can be proud of professional gender equality. We have developed through our national organization recognized standards, protocols, oral health policies, clinical guidelines, and best practices that help us deliver the highest quality, safest, and most dependable care on the planet. We create and deliver to pediatric dentists in California the largest and --- hands-down --- best state pediatric dental meeting in the country. We have gone from exclusively membership services to become the most prominent voice, recognized authority, and leading state advocate for the oral health of infants, children, and adolescents, including those with special health care and developmental needs.

How we got to where we are today in public perception and in professional reality is not so much the result of brilliant planning as it is fortuitous circumstance. In the very early 1970’s, when statute and regulation were adopted for the first time to govern the administration of general anesthesia and “deep sleep” by dentists, oral administration of sedative agents was exempted. This was about to change in 1998 when, after several highly publicized and tragic office events, the confluence of public awareness, legislative concern, and professional responsibility dictated that training and procedural standards for “oral conscious sedation” be established in law and regulation. At that point, then CSPD President Dr. Ray Stewart, and his successor, Dr. Don Duperon, seized the moment, recognizing that our members in clinical practice and academia had the knowledge, expertise and experience to best forge the appropriate effective legislation. Working closely with (and relying heavily upon) the California Dental Association, CSPD, for the first time ever, crafted statutory language, strategized with lawmakers, provided letters of support to Senate and Assembly committees, walked the halls of the state capital in Sacramento, and provided oral testimony at hearings or in chambers. The bill we wanted was passed and the next year we appeared before multiple meetings of the Board of Dental Examiners to participate in the drafting of regulations that would implement the new law.

It was shortly thereafter that CSPD conducted a long-range strategic planning session to assess membership needs and establish tactical priorities. I remember we were feeling pretty good about our recent successful efforts in Sacramento and telling meeting facilitator and former AAPD and CDA President Dr. David Gaynor that we were glad it was over. “OVER!?” he declared, “Only fools would think it’s over. You should just be getting STARTED!” He told us in no uncertain terms (David Gaynor didn’t use uncertain terms), “You need to be at every meeting of the State Board. You should be involved in every session of the legislature. You have to be meeting regularly with the Department of Health Services,” which at the time ran the Denti-Cal program. “You don’t show up just when you have a problem --- you show up all the time so they know who you are and that you’re a serious player. You can either be the setter of public policy or the consumer of public policy --- your choice!”

And that’s how it all started. To effect change and not just react when change occurs, CSPD created the first state level Public Policy Advocate position in the country (there are now 50) to coordinate pediatric oral health activism across elected officials, state agencies, licensing bureaus, professional societies, child welfare organizations, oral health coalitions, foundations, institutions of dental education, and public and private dental delivery systems. CSPD’s current Public Policy Advocate, Dr. Natalie Mansour, serves tirelessly as our ambassador to the larger world to bring our message of optimal oral health to policy makers and rule setters across the state. What started as a one-and-done is now a continuous and highly effective ongoing program.

READY FOR ADVENTURE & EXCITEMENT?

Dr. Oariona Lowe - Annual Meeting Chair &
Dr. Don Schmitt - Annual Meeting Co-Chair

The CSPD Annual Meeting Committee invites you to join us for some “adventure and excitement”. It’s time to mingle and network, meet up with old friends and colleagues. Bask under the gorgeous Arizona sun and hike Camelback Mountain. Come to Paradise valley to “get away” and fulfill your CE requirements.

The CSPD and WSPD are planning an on-site venue loaded with 18+ CE units. We are excited to share with you our 2022 academic program which commences on Friday morning with a lecture by Dr. Donald Chi on Parental refusal of fluoride, followed by a presentation on the Medical management of caries; a minimally invasive approach to treating dental decay given by Dr. Joel Berg. Dr. Eyal Simchi will speak on Behavior management of the Child on Friday afternoon. Following his lecture is a presentation on Wellness and Health which will WOW you. Michael Swetye, MD, a Child Psychiatrist will speak Saturday morning on “Child and Adolescent Mental Health. His lecture will be followed by a presentation on Interceptive Orthodontics: Phase I treatment by Dr. Wanda Claro. After lunch, a special Words of Wisdom session is planned on Practice Success and other topics unique to Pediatric dentistry. Dr. Juan Yepes will join us Sunday morning to enlighten us with a special lecture on Safety and Best Practices in Pediatric Dental Radiography – Image Gently.

Poster presentations will be on-site in the Exhibit Hall alongside our many and wonderful Sponsors. This year, posters will also be pre-recorded and available for viewing before and after the meeting. The exhibit hall will be filled with many of our longtime sponsors and vendors who will be offering special-order pricing for their products.

Social events featuring a themed Welcome Reception and a Saturday night cocktail party filled with entertainment and a tasteful selection of tapas await you!

Scottsdale is a vibrant city featuring world class golfing, shopping, and first class restaurants. Spend a day at the Kasbah pool, rest in a cabana, relax and get pampered at the Joya Spa and Salon. Experience Joya’s award winning Spa with Hammam room.

Enjoy the beauty and ambiance of Southern Spain and Northern Morocco as you will be delightfully entertained at the Omni!

Be a tourist and enjoy the Arizona sun! … And just Relax!

Updating CSPD Administrative Policy and Procedures (P&P)
Every so often, our committees review their sections of the P&P, ensuring that our current activities reflect our playbook while allowing each committee member to be cognizant of his or her responsibilities. Over the last few months, our committees have been busy working on these updates. The revisions the committees proposed are reviewed by the Board of Directors and then approved to be updated. I would like to thank the chairs and the committee members for undertaking this process. I would especially like to thank Dr. Gary Sabbadini and his Constitution and Bylaws Committee members who will assemble the revised manual.

New Graduates Dues

Our Board of Directors wants to better support new graduating dentists by easing the financial burden of membership into CSPD. Many of these new dentists have significant

educational debt. To help, our Board has considered ways to ease our dues in order to promote unencumbered membership into CSPD. These change proposals will be voted on at the CSPD business meeting on April 21, 2018. Please support our new graduates as we welcome them into our CSPD family.

Legislative Process Presentation
Our Board of Directors periodically invites speakers who may provide certain perspectives on a subject of interest. Much appreciation is extended to Brianna Pittman, legislative director for the California Dental Association (CDA), who works closely with Dr. Paul Reggiardo, our public policy advocate on legislative matters. Ms. Pittman

recently gave a presentation on how the California State Legislature operates and how the CDA provides dental expertise in the formulation of its legislative bills. It was illuminating not only for our Board but also for our Santos Cortez Graduate Student Legislative Advocacy intern Dr. Norman Chen and our Warren Brandli interns, Drs. Nicole LaMantia and Shan Girn, who were present.  A special thanks goes out to Dr. Nancy Hsieh for organizing this program.

Passed External Audit
Kudos to Dr. Don Schmitt, CSPD Treasurer, the members of the Finance Committee, and Sandy Gore of Smith, Moore & Associates, who underwent a full external audit by Richardson & Company, LLP. Rest assured that all is well with our financial procedures. I also would like to thank the Audit Committee chair, Dr. Eddie So, along with the Audit Committee members, Drs. Natalie Mansour and Kim Whippy, for their assistance. Our next external audit will be in five years.  

Pediatric Dentists at the CDA House of Delegates (HOD) Meeting
The CDA held its HOD meeting in Sacramento from November 16 to 19, 2017. A number of our CSPD members attended this meeting as delegates and alternates. CSPD hosted the pediatric dental caucus meeting on Saturday at 6:30 a.m. to minimize

conflicts with other programs.  Our HOD meeting attendees are pediatric dental experts who serve as ambassadors of our specialty to the CDA, hailing from local and state level components. We were well represented by Drs. Ryan Abelowitz, Santos Cortez, Rajneesh Dal, Tyler Davis, Randall Heckert, Sahar Jaffrey, Shukan Kanuga, Harvey Lee, Oariona Lowe, Chris Pham, Isabella Piedra, Paul Reggiardo, Robert Ripley, Lindsey Robinson, Arminda Robles, Patrick So, Andy Soderstrom, Kurt Sturz, Anahita Taraporewalla, Sharine Thenard, Kimberly Whippy, and Purvi Zavery. I speak for all the members of CSPD when I say thank you for your service and representation as we work together for the children and the pediatric dentists of California.

Lastly, on a personal note:
Thank you all for supporting me in the recent election for the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s Western District Trustee position. I profoundly appreciate your confidence in me. I shall strive to be the conduit of communication between all the Western District chapters and our AAPD mothership.

Respectfully submitted,
Jacob K. Lee, DDS
President, CSPD

The byline in the ADA News introducing Dr. Crowley to the membership prior to his installation was “Treat people as you would want to be treated.” That is one of his core values. This ancient saying with roots in many cultures and religions is one I also try to follow in my practice. Dr. Crowley and I both practice in the community where we were raised and are active participants in the community. Perhaps these parallelisms create a bias for my appreciation of his comments but I hope you’ll share my perspective.

In his message to the House of Delegates, Dr. Crowley challenged us to “work together to elevate dentistry to new heights.” He stated that as dentists, we have a responsibility to our patients, to our communities and the responsibility to improve our world. How does he propose we, as dentists, do this?

“We have to claim our place in our larger society as a major player in health – not just dental health but overall health. We have to disrupt the patterns that aren’t working. We have to pull up a seat at the tables of our local governments, with editorial boards of our hometown newspapers, with anyone who will listen. We have to step up in new ways to advocate for our higher goals that contribute to this big world in which we live – not just our dental world.

We need to look at our role in society differently. There’s a bigger piece of the puzzle that we as an organization have probably not given all the attention it deserves. It’s about being part of bigger conversations about health. It’s about making sure people who need care get care.”

The world of healthcare is changing. Value in medicine is evolving rapidly to a system based on outcomes not procedures. In the past, it would be 15-20 years before similar changes made their way into dentistry. That time frame has shortened which makes this the time for the ADA to “lead that change rather than chase it.” To read Dr. Crowley’s entire message follow this link: https://www.ada.org/en/~/media/ADA/Member%20Center/Members/HOD%20Speech-Incoming%20President.

So where do pediatric dentist and pediatric dentistry fit into Dr. Crowley’s vision.

First – Membership - more specifically membership across all levels of organized dentistry (local, state and national). CSPD has tremendously loyal members and our membership numbers continue to grow each year. Representing a large majority of the pediatric dentists in California allows CSPD to be a significant player on issues related to the practice of pediatric dentistry. But for your voice to be heard in Chicago or Washington DC, you also need to be a member of the ADA or AAPD (ideally both) as they are the organizations that carry our message at the national level. Their voices are made louder by growing their memberships. Growing membership proportionate to their market share has been a challenge for the ADA for nearly a decade which is alarming. These national organizations are the ones that focus on the big picture and advocate for the policy changes where dentistry, as Dr. Crowley opined, is “leading the change not chasing it.” The value of membership is more than just the “membership benefits” we personally receive. It’s also about moving our profession forward creating a better profession for those who follow us.

Second – Prevention – Pediatric dentists are the prevention experts. We get it, we apply the techniques more than any other discipline of dentistry and we see the results in the positive outcomes for our patients. In access to care discussions, I heard it stated countless times that “we can’t drill and fill our way out of this problem” implying the need for an increased emphasis on prevention. The value conversation for dentistry is still in its infancy but seems to clearly be pointing towards increasing the perceived value of prevention. That course will require cultural change within the profession where prevention has a greater value than restoration. For this change to happen, there will have to be a restructuring of the reimbursement system. Again, this is a conversation that must occur at the national level and as the prevention specialists’, pediatric dentistry should have a prominent seat at the table.

Third – Leadership – Pediatric dentists only comprise 1-2% of the entire number of dentists yet during my volunteer experience they hold 5-10% of volunteer positions in organized dentistry. I’ve found this to be the situation across all three levels of the tripartite structure. CSPD has two tremendous leadership programs that provide our young dentists the experience they’ll need to become our future leaders. The Warren Brandli Intern program is a yearlong program where the interns participate in all the activities of the Board of Directors giving them experience in organizational governance and child advocacy. The Santos Cortez Graduate Student Leadership Advocacy program provides our dental residents the opportunity to experience and see our State legislative process firsthand while advocating on pediatric issues in Sacramento and Washington, DC. It is your membership that provides the support for these valuable programs.

Legislative and regulatory advocacy are not the glamorous membership benefits we all clamor for. To me, they are the most important. Yes, I’m probably biased by my many years of volunteer leadership. These behind the scene activities provide the foundation for us to practice dentistry in an environment that allows us to optimally provide care for our patients with reasonable compensation. It’s your membership dues that assure that all these organizations have the resources necessary to be the professions’ advocate. I hope you’ll join me in my continued support of organized dentistry to assure a bright future for our profession.

Respectfully submitted,
Andy Soderstrom, DDS
Executive Director, CSPD