Dear colleagues,

Welcome to the Howard County Dental Association!

Over the summer months, the Board of HCDA has worked diligently to provide a successful upcoming year. We have reviewed the goals and priorities which will benefit the member dentists, their dental practices, and ultimately their patients.

Our first order of business was to hire Allison Giannino as our new Executive Director. We are truly fortunate to have Allison on our team. She has a background in hotel management and marketing, and has been a perfect fit within the HCDA. Please introduce yourself and make her feel welcome as we move forward this year. Secondly, we established a balanced budget for the upcoming year. As our fixed costs continue to rise, we have voted to raise the membership dues. It was a difficult decision to make, but it allows us to maintain our high level of seminars at the Sheraton in Columbia. Finally, we plan to have a fund to allow us to make more generous charitable contributions.

In establishing the schedule of speakers, we want to offer lectures in many different disciplines, which can help each of you in your clinical practice. I contacted several colleagues from the Washington, DC area. Dr. Ron Brown spoke in the September meeting about the pharmacology of vasoconstrictors in dentistry. His valuable information will surely have a direct impact on our patient care. The remainder of seminars includes Dr. Ben Watkins who will speak on the esthetics of implant dentistry, Dr. Doug Dompkowski who will discuss connective tissue grafts and the Simplant system, and Drs. Michael Ribera and Pirooz Zia, who will present the “Endodontic-Implant conundrum.” They are each well-established experienced practitioners who will give us valuable clinical knowledge to use in our dental practices.

Thanks to the HCDA Secretary, Dr. Dan Devlin, our series of seminars will culminate with an all-day seminar sponsored by The Pankey Institute on May 1, 2009. As many of you know, the Pankey Institute is one of the pre-eminent dental practice management organizations available today. Dr. Beirl will spend the day discussing fundamental practice management skills, case presentations, treatment planning, and offer many more pearls of wisdom. It, surely, is a meeting you do not want to miss.

As President of the Howard County Dental Association, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to serve you this year. Have a prosperous and fulfilling year.

Sincerely,

Walter M. Mazzella, D.D.S., F.A.G.D. President, HCDA