| Table of Contents - November/December • 2003 | |||||||||||||||
| Den-Mat Corporation Sponsors Museum | New Foundation Executive Director | ||||||||||||||
| Shigeo Ryan Kishi | Section News- United States |
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| Dr. Shigeo Kishi Memorial | |||||||||||||||
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Dental World
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Our New PFA President
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Dr. Kevin Roach, a general dentist from Pembroke, Ontario, Canada, has been installed as our new PFA President for the 2003-2004 year at the Academy Annual Meeting in San Francisco last October. His election to this office marks the summit of a long association with the Academy, which began with his appointment as a Fellow in 1988. In 1991, he became Ontario (Canada) Section Chairman. In 1996, he was elected to the ten-member International Board of Trustees, along with five trustees from the United States and five International Trustees from Europe, Australasia, Latin America, and Japan. Dr. Roach has an even longer association with organized dentistry. As a young man, he developed his lifelong conviction that the primary obligations carried by every professional are to serve our patients and to contribute to the profession and the community. During his pre-doctoral studies, while completing a Science Degree at Laurentian University, he became President of the University of Sudbury Students’ Council. As an undergraduate student in dentistry at the University of Toronto, he served as a Student Governor to both the Ontario Dental Association (ODA) and the Canadian Dental Association (CDA). Also during this period, he chaired the 4th Canadian Dental Students’ Conference in Vancouver and became Student Liaison to the Canadian Dental Service Plans Incorporated (CDSPI)—a national dental insurance and investment service affiliated with the Canadian Dental Association. While associated with CDSPI, he contributed to the development of the “grad pak,” a comprehensive insurance package for new graduates in dentistry. He was elected Class President in 1973, the year he graduated in dentistry from the University of Toronto. By 1975, Dr. Roach was President of his local dental society in Renfrew County. In 1977, having been in practice for only four years, Dr. Roach was elected to the Ontario Dental Association Board of Directors. He subsequently was elected to the Executive Council of the ODA, and in 1983 became the youngest ODA President. |
As President of ODA, Dr. Roach represented Ontario dentists in Toronto during the revision of the dental section of the Ontario Health Insurance Plan Fee Schedule (dealing with provincial government coverage for selected dental services). He also represented Ontario dentists in Ottawa as the national government was developing the Canada Health Act (which sets out the conditions for federal insurance coverage in health care). During this era, many committee/board meetings were held in smoke-filled rooms. Dr. Roach led the movement for “cleaner air in dental meeting rooms.” At both the Ontario and Canadian Dental Associations, he presented successful motions that smoking not be permitted during meetings. Although he was first elected as Governor to the Canadian Dental Association in 1979, Dr. Roach stepped down in order to become ODA’s President. After his term as President, he was again elected as a CDA Governor, and he subsequently became CDA President in 1989. During his ascendancy to the CDA Presidency, he served as liaison to a multitude of committees, including a Task Force that led to the creation of the Council on Education and Accreditation of Canada. Other significant achievements during his term as CDA President included extensive negotiations to launch electronic data interchange (EDI)—a computer network to allow dental offices to submit claims to third party dental insurance carriers—and the complete renovation of the CDA headquarters building in Ottawa. Dr. Roach subsequently served as a member of the CDA Nominations and Awards Committee. On completion of his term in 1990, he was recognized for his achievements by his local peers with a lovely artwork, which he proudly displays in his dental office in Pembroke. |
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Our New PFA President continued
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In 1991, Dr. Roach became a charter member of the Colgate Canada Editorial Board responsible for the original development of the Colgate Oral Health Care Report. This report is now distributed internationally by Colgate in 70 countries, in a number of different languages. In the Autumn of 1996, the publications editorial board was relocated to New York City, and an editor from Harvard University in Boston was appointed. Dr. Roach was asked to be an Associate Editor on the new five-member International Board, along with the Editor and consultants from the United States, Ireland, and China. From 1990-1992, Dr. Roach chaired the National Dental Hygiene Supervision Committee appointed by CDA, in consultation with the Canadian Dental Hygienists’ Association, to set out the supervisory parameters for dental hygiene, an extremely controversial subject at the time. This Committee recommended that dental hygienists should have voting representation on the Dental Boards that governed them and registered their licensure to practice. While at that time some saw this as “radical,” most of the committee’s recommendations were implemented in 1995 by the Dental Licensing body in Ontario (The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario). In 1995, Dr. Roach was elected Chair of the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada, the first general dentist to hold this important position. He served two terms as Chairman, and then two years as Finance Committee Chair where his budgetary expertise laid the foundation for the concept of the Commission as an autonomous legal entity responsible for its own destiny. Also in 1995, Dr. Roach was appointed to the National Dental Examining Board and served as an examiner for the Board Examinations for out-of-country applicants. The same year, he was asked to act as Chairman of the Periodontal Screening Recording (PSR) Committee to launch this innovative method of the early diagnosis of periodontal disease. In 1996, Dr. Roach was asked to chair a committee to consider granting dental specialty status to Oral Medicine and Dental Anesthesia. |
The following year, Oral Medicine was recognized as a specialty in Canada and protocols were developed for a combined specialty of Oral Diagnosis/Oral Medicine. As a citizen of Pembroke, Ontario, and the “Ottawa Valley,” Dr. Roach has made numerous contributions to his community. He chaired four campaigns to promote fluoridation of Pembroke’s water. He is a past Director of the Kinsman Club of Pembroke, the United Appeal of Pembroke-Petewawa, and President of the Rebfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke Liberal Association, as well as past Chief of dentistry at the Pembroke Civic Hospital. For many years, Dr. Kevin Roach has been successfully following his conviction that dentists must serve their patients and must also serve the profession and the public. He has considered his efforts not as a burden but as an opportunity and something of a hobby. He has been active in student politics, in organized dentistry at local, provincial, and national levels, in national accreditation and national certification processes, and in writing and lobbying on dental topics and issues. Along the way, he has made impressive contributions to the many bodies with which he has been associated, most notably to the Ontario Dental Association, the Canadian Dental Association, and the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada. In recognition of his accomplishments, Dr. Roach has received many awards. In 1973, at the University of Toronto he received the Oral Diagnosis Award, the Bronze Plaque Athletic Award, and the Dental Students’ Society Award. In 1984, he earned the CDA Award of Merit, and in 1997 he was presented with CDA Honourary Membership. In 1991, he received the Ontario Dental Association’s Barnabus Day Award and in 1993 was named the University of Toronto Alumnus of Distinction Awardee. In 1999, he received the Award of Merit from the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada and in 2000 he earned Honourary Fellowship in the Royal College of Dentists (Canada) FRCD(C). He also is a Fellow in PFA (1988) and in ACD (1990). |
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Longfellow wrote: “Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us footprints on the sands of time.” Dr. Kishi wrote this article in 1990 entitled “One Man’s Perspective on Excellence” I write this essay in the early morning hours before the sun casts its life-giving brilliance on the birth of a new day. My mind cannot help but reflect upon how each new life is begun as we take our first life-sustaining breath, and are born into the world with our minds completely devoid of any preconceptions about what life has to offer. The mind is a clean slate upon which can be written an autobiography of a life of success or failure, integrity or compromise, happiness or grief, excellence or mediocrity, contribution or selfishness. All of these aspects of one’s life are conceived in our minds as a concept of how we shall live our lives; a seed of thought planted in our minds that grows into what we will eventually become in our journey through life itself. We grow into young adulthood encountering numerous individuals who have tremendous influence upon how we will eventually perceive ourselves in our interpersonal relationships with our parents, siblings, peers, and friends of all ages. Prior encounters, if they were positive in nature, contribute to the development of a positive self-concept, a sense of self-worth, and confidence. The manner in which each of us perceives ourselves has a tremendous influence on how we will function professionally and how successfully we will be able to commit to the well being of our families and to the welfare of those individuals we are trained to serve. Each of us, during the course of lives, determines what we consider to be success, integrity, happiness, excellence, and contribution in order to make our lives fulfilled. Failure, grief, mediocrity, and selfishness are the last considerations in the early stages of our careers. However, in a recent survey of over 1095 practitioners after ten years in practice, it was found that 42% stated that they were dissatisfied in their chosen profession and lead lives of failure and mediocrity. How can we avoid these tragic events of despair from occurring during our professional careers? Obviously the answers are not easy. Perhaps the seed of discontent was planted at the very outset of a person’s career. |
I have discovered that one’s personal perspective of success, integrity, and happiness cannot be measured and compared purely against another individual’s accomplishments, but must be measured by standards which we establish for ourselves. Such standards are based upon concepts and ideals instilled in us by those who have provided the positive influence on our thought processes.
A deep commitment to excellence combined with a goal to achieve a standard of excellence is the essence from which all other positive aspects of one’s life can be attained. Every individual needs to experience excellence in some area of accomplishment during our lifetime. If not, then each morning as they gaze into the mirror, they will see only a reflection of mediocrity with the accompanying feeling of a loss of self-worth. During the initial training of students in dental school, I would encourage that each student be given the opportunity to excel and to be recognized for their achievements early in their career. Feelings of confidence and self-worth can be elevated through participation in a positive teaching atmosphere. Excellence and integrity should be encouraged by emphasizing success. Each student should be allowed to discover his or her area of true expertise, for in this discovery lies the key to future success. Excellence can be achieved through positive and constant learning experiences, not only through formal education, but also by association with individuals who are recognized for excellence in their chosen fields of endeavor. Friendships such as these, encourage a person to strive for achievement at the highest level and contribute to the happiness of their lives. Excellence and its companion, success, breeds integrity—a quality that will carry us through the most trying times. In candor, I have stated my personal view on excellence and I hope that it will stimulate productive thoughts by those who happen to read it. I have been very fortunate during my life to have been able to learn about excellence, success, integrity, and contributions to society from those individuals possessed of high intellect and compassion, which have demonstrated their commitment to excellence in our profession and to the concurrent welfare of the world community. I sincerely hope that you will also be fortunate enough to have an integral part of your life, friends, and family who care about you in your quest for excellence. |
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The painful Congressional Session is finally in recess.
The Mercury in the Dental Filling Disclosure and Prohibition Act seems to be going nowhere, as it should. Representative Diane Watson (D-Calif) sponsored the bill and has only one cosponsor, Representative Dan Burton (R-Ind). If any one of you from California could find out why she sponsored such a bill, we would love to know. The tort reform bill, passed by the house, is dead in the Senate. Some form of limitations is badly needed. It was the limit on the liability of HMOs that killed the Patient Protection Bill. The Medicare Prescription Drug bill is in Conference to reconcile the senate bill differences, but without White House support it will not be reported out. That bill has several important items I support: 1) Dentists can treat Medicare patients without being Medicare providers; 2) Dentists would not have to have a Medicare rejection in order to file a claim with a secondary or supplemental payer; 3) Medicare would be required to tell a provider if they will pay for a service before the service is provided; 4) Medicare’s use of the False Claims Act in shaking down providers would be softened; 5) Medicare rules cannot be changed after the fact and applied retroactively; 6) The patient would be allowed to appeal a Medicare decision. Few dentists deal with Medicare because so very little dentistry is covered by them, but oral surgeons, for one example, need these changes. However, the prescription drug provision is open-ended and may bankrupt Medicare, and cancer care is cut by 30%. I have suggested that the prescription drug bill have a $400 billion limit and would require Congressional action to increase the limit, that all seniors have a drug value card to buy drugs at a discount, tax-free contributions can be made to a drug savings account, and a catastrophic coverage to limit the amount a senior would ever have to pay. |
 PFA Fellow Charlie Norwood
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Table of Contents - November/December • 2003
Den-Mat Corporation Sponsors Museum
New Foundation Executive Director
Shigeo Ryan Kishi
Section News- United States
Dr. Shigeo Kishi Memorial
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