Dental World® PIERRE FAUCHARD ACADEMY President’s Message: Our Students / Our Future
	At this time of the year, my thoughts turn to the graduating dental students worldwide who are striving to complete their requirements, studying for various Board exams, and anxiously awaiting acceptances to a specialty program, general practice residency, or a practice associateship. As a proud father, I offer congratulations to my daughter Maureen as she prepares to don her cap and gown, at the end of May this year, as part of Nova Southeastern’s fourth graduating class. Every year, your Pierre Fauchard Academy Foundation focuses its attention on our profession’s newest graduates. We annually provide a $1500 scholarship to a junior student in each dental school in the United States as well as 18 scholarships to students in PFA Sections throughout the world. As the 2004 graduates depart, dental faculties around the world are in the process of finalizing acceptances for their new freshman class—the Class of 2008. Each country has its own criteria, with high performance demanded in things like grade-point averages, dental aptitude test scores, personal interviews, communication skills, perceptual ability/chalk/wax carving, etc. We older dentists often wonder if we could meet such increasingly demanding academic and performance criteria and make it into dental school in today’s world.		We also worry about keeping our profession open to those whose personal circumstances and finances represent still another set of formidable challenges (and those who, above all else, simply have their hearts set on being dentists). Across the world, we still need graduates who know how hard it is to rise from humble beginnings, graduates willing to work in underserved areas, graduates with appropriate linguistic abilities and cultural sensitivities, graduates with compassionate hearts and dedication to serving our patients. Our newest graduates will undoubtedly continue to bring such qualities to our profession and to our patients. We should, all of us, however, give thought to finding ways to ensure that dental faculty admissions processes, over time, do not emphasize academic performances to the exclusion of the “human” dimensions that characterize our profession. We should also give thought to the increasing costs of dental education and the possibility, if costs get even worse, that the ultimate cost to our profession might well be its very “soul.” My hearty congratulations to those receiving PFA Scholarships this year, and to all of our newest colleagues. May you find success and happiness in dental practice and help all of us find ways to meet the challenges developing in our profession.
			Dr. Kevin L. Roach President

	PFA Web Site Sets New Record
	Our PFA Webmaster Mark Stanley reports that the new updates are creating quite a stir. The average monthly traffic has nearly doubled this year over the same time last year with March 2004 setting a new all-time high record of 20,381 pages viewed. This was up from February’s 15,734 pages and January’s 17,052 pages. For comparison, February 2003 had 10,453 pages and March 2003 had 11,699 pages. On the average, there have been increases of about 1000 pages each month, except for the summer months when the numbers remained static.		The word is finally getting around and the Web site has become a viable tool in aiding the Sections and membership. Applications and forms can be downloaded more easily than requesting them by mail. Links to other sites have made it easier to follow up information. The history section has provided interest. And the easily reached Directory helps you discover who is a Fellow in your area. The language translation may take some credit, but the quality is not perfected yet. Mark is currently working on that aspect.