President’s Message 2008
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the
hard working members of the American Veterinary Dental Society board of
directors for giving me the opportunity to serve the membership in the upcoming
two years. Expansion of services to the membership is our top priority for the
coming years and I personally invite all members who wish to help, to contact me
or any of the board of directors. Suggestions on improving member services are
welcome. We would love to hear from you. Our contact information appears in
the board section of the AVDS website at
www.avds-online.org
2007 has been a challenging yet extremely rewarding
year for AVDS and the Veterinary Dental Organizing Group that manages the
Veterinary Dental Forum. The transition to a new management company was delayed
considerably producing web site glitches and forum planning challenges. Delores
Green and Company worked very hard in conjunction with our two groups to
overcome the obstacles and the result was a very successful 21st
Annual Veterinary Dental Forum in Minneapolis this past October. With the new
management company on board we are very excited that the 22nd annual
forum in Jacksonville, Florida will be the best yet.
The brainchild of former AVDS president Clarence
Sitzman, the Foundation for Veterinary Dentistry, has been established and the
website completed (F4VD.org). Scholarships were awarded to 3 students at the
Forum in celebration of the official foundation launch. A large part of the
goal of the Foundation is to enhance veterinary dental educational opportunities
and to support research projects in the field of veterinary oral health. A
silent and live auction held in conjunction with the Saturday evening social
function at the Forum raised over $15,000 dollars for the Foundation. Thanks go
out to all that generously contributed auction items, to those that participated
in the bidding and Dr. Barden Greenfield for organizing the event. It is our
thought that this will become a staple at the forum for years to come. Thanks
to Dr. Sitzman and all of the trustees that worked hard to see the Foundation
come to fruition.
New AVDS membership has continued to rise with
significant representation from both the U.S. and internationally. This
increase is mostly due to practitioner and technician exposure to veterinary
dental education. Veterinary schools are increasingly including veterinary
dental curricula into their programs. Boarded veterinary dentists continue to
expand their participation at the university level in either full or part time
capacities. Increasing numbers of regional continuing education opportunities
are also responsible for this positive trend in membership. Speaker’s packets
that contain sample journals, a step-by-step compendium, an AVDS powerpoint
presentation and membership information have been made available through the
management company. Any fellow or diplomate may request a speaker’s packet by
emailing Sally Browning at
sbrowning@fpunet.com. Thanks goes out to all of our colleagues that take
the role as teachers and advocates of AVDS.
In keeping with the increase in AVDS membership the
Journal of Veterinary Dentistry has celebrated continued success thanks to the
efforts of Editor and Assistant Editors Mark and Debra Smith and Publisher Kurt
Peckman. Their incredible dedication to quality and content has produced a
stellar publication that is arguably the best in our profession. A new
Foundation Step-by-Step containing a compilation of selected articles previously
published in the Foundation section of the JVD. Orders taken at the forum
pre-publication were overwhelming. The Foundation SBS with be available by year
end and can be ordered directly from the JVD website at
www.jvdonline.org or from the link on the homepage of the AVDS website at
www.avds-online.org.
The years to come should prove to serve AVDS members
well as existing projects come to fruition and new ones embraced for formulation
and development. I look forward to serving as your new president and welcome
any and all ideas that you, the membership, has to offer.
Sincerely,
Brett Beckman, DVM, FAVD, DAVDC, DAAPM
