Dental World® PIERRE FAUCHARD ACADEMY President’s Message March/April • 2005
	Membership of any organization represents its history, its current activity, and its future. We are only as good as our membership. One goal that we would like to achieve this year is the expansion of our membership with quality, talented individuals with a strong desire to give back to their profession and community. We are blessed with a profession full of these people. Look at yourself, your local PFA Section, and our organization’s national and international membership. As an organization, we need a strong membership foundation to insure our future. To that goal, we have two key issues to address this year: (1) membership retention, and (2) the addition of new members. In the next few months, you will be called upon to provide tactical input to help us achieve our membership goals.		As I was attending my first PFA Section Meeting as President, two interesting things happened to me. A new Fellow turned to me and said, “Boy, there really are a lot of great dentists in this room.” Another new Fellow could not believe the number of the members attending the Meeting. What really hit home to me about these comments is that most of the time we take our membership for granted. It should be no surprise to any of us that we have been invited to join the Pierre Fauchard Academy because of all the good things we have previously done for our profession and our community. We have all accepted our invitation because of a desire to serve and to do more. As you go to your local, State, and national dental meetings in the upcoming months, I ask you to look around at your colleagues and identify those that would enhance our membership. Ask them to be a part of our efforts. A membership form is available for downloading at http://Fauchard.org/inquiries.htm
			Michael J. Perpich, DDS President

	Table of Contents - March/April• 2005
	President’s Message:		Foundation Section News
	Montreal		Section News
	Dr. Zarb		Section News Continued
	Patient Stroke		Calendar
	Central Office Report		Section News - USA
	Foundation President		Officers & Trustees
	Foundation Executive Director
	Dental World	—	Page 1 2 3 4

	PFA Party in Montreal
	FDI World Congress
	International Trustee Barry Dolman has invited all PFA Fellows to attend the FDI World Congress in Montreal this August and to participate in their PFA Section events, as well as enjoy one of the finest French cities in America. Their Special Awards Dinner is scheduled for 24 August at 8:30 PM following the FDI opening ceremonies in the Atrium of the Montreal World Trade Center adjacent to the Congress Center attached to the Intercontinental Hotel on the doorstep of the historic city of Old Montreal. Cost for this special event will be $100. Please forward your reservation to Dr. Barry Dolman at 5885 Cote des Neiges, Suite 304, Montreal, Qc H3R2W4, Canada, before 30 April as there will be no onsite admissions. Any inquiries can be made at DrDolman@sympatico.ca. PFA will be presenting the Elmer S. Best Award to Dr. George Albert Zarb for his outstanding contributions to our profession.		A housing form can be downloaded at www.tourisme-montreal.org/housing/dentist; complete the form and fax it to 514/844-6771. Or you can e-mail the form to reservation@tourisme-montreal.org. Indicate your hotel choice as “Inter-Continental only PFA” as your only choice. All reservations must be in by 30 March 2005 to insure you get with the PFA group. The Awards Committee, chaired by Trustee James Englander, has approved Dr. George A. Zarb of Toronto to receive the 2005 Elmer S. Best Award to be presented in Canada in August in conjunction with the FDI/PFA functions. The PFA Board of Trustees has approved the committee’s recommendation.
	2005 Elmer S. Best Award presented to Dr. George Zarb
	Dr. George A. Zarb of Toronto, Canada, has been approved by the Awards Committee and the Board of Trustees to receive PFA’s most prestigious award, the Elmer S. Best Award.		The PFA ceremony will take place this August in Montreal during the 93rd FDI World Congress.

		Dr. George A. Zarb
		Dr. George Albert Zarb is Professor and Chair for Prosthodontics and Associate Dean of Clinical Sciences on the dental faculty for the University of Toronto. He also serves as Consultant to the Dental Department of Mount Sinai Hospital. He was born in 1938 in Valletta, Malta, where he completed his high school and B.Ch.D at the University of Malta in 1960. He earned his M.S. degree in Graduate Operative Dentistry and Prosthodontics, and his D.D.S. at the University of Michigan in 1963, the same year he married Janet Jenkins and established a private practice in Toronto until 1965. He then earned another M.S. in Graduate Prosthodontics at Ohio State University by 1966. He became a Canadian citizen in 1968. In 1969 he received Fellowship in the Royal College of Dentists of Canada by examination. He had started teaching at the University of Toronto and became Chairman of Prosthodontics in 1971, Professor in 1972, and Associate Dean in 1997 to 2001. In his distinguished career, he had received many awards including the Fulbright Scholarship to the University of Michigan in 1960, Outstanding Teacher Alumni Award from New York University in 1981, the 1983 New York University Distinguished Teacher and Researcher Award,		the 1989 Marvin Goldstein Award from the Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry, Fellowships in the American College of Dentists (1991), the International Dental Academy (1990), and the International College of Dentists (1990). He is an Honorary Member of the Finnish Dental Society (1991), Honorary Member of the Israeli Dental Society (1992), Honorary Life Member in the Association of Prosthodontists of Canada (1989), Honorary Doctor of Law from Dalhousie University (1993), and Honorary Doctor of Medicine & Surgery from the University of Malta (1995) to merely mention a few. He has been presented the 1991 Canadian Dental Association’s Distinguished Service Award, the 1992 Goldstein Award from Israel’s Hebrew University, the 1999 Gold Medal Award from the British Society for the study of Prosthetic Dentistry, the 2001 Thaddeus Weclew Fellowship Award from ADG, the Distinguished Fellow Award (2001) from the Academy of Dentistry International, and he was awarded Honourary Membership (2004) in the Canadian Dental Association. Dr. Zarb’s activities on behalf of dentistry fill some 27 pages from 1963 to 2003—over 40 years of service to dentistry! He also raised four children.
		Patient Stroke How to determine if a patient is having a stroke in your office by past PFA President M. David Campbell
		Often symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. The lack of awareness to diagnose this early on, while it is happening, can spell disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage while people nearby fail to recognize its symptoms. The American Stroke Association has suggested that a bystander, assistant, and/or dentist can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions: • Ask the individual to smile; • Ask the individual to raise both arms; • Ask the person to speak a simple sentence. If the individual has trouble with any of these tasks, call 911, the rescue squad, or the nearest hospital immediately. Describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. Best to err on the side of having the individual checked out, than waste precious time for the onset to get worse. Non-medical volunteers can identify facial weakness, arm weakness, and speech problems. The American Stroke Association urges the general public, and certainly dental personnel, to learn these three questions. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of stroke victims to prevent brain damage, thus making a quick recovery more possible. Ask your dental staff to familiarize themselves with this procedure and be prepared to call for medical assistance. If the situation is not a stroke, that can be determined by experts. If the patient is having a stroke, prompt action could save a life. This course of action should be taken even if the individual rejects or denies they are in distress. If in your opinion they are in distress of some kind, act quickly.		Many things can trigger a stroke without any forewarning or prior symptoms. Anxiety in coming to the dental office, commencing treatment, or the treatment itself may well be one of those triggering mechanisms. A clear health history office report may not suggest any prior problems, even if a patient’s health history is checked for changes at their regular visits. A call to your local emergency service, usually 911, will insure that whatever situation the patient is experiencing will be handled promptly. The potential embarrassment of a med unit arriving at your office to check the situation out is insignificant considering the potential good it may do for your patients, or for your own personnel, or for yourself. It is essential for every dental office to have such an emergency plan in place. At least six month personnel drills to execute such a plan up to calling 911 is simple and takes only seconds to perform. If the patient is a regular visitor, ask if their health history/medication has changed since you saw them last. Often patients forget to inform their dentist of such changes. If the patient has not been in the office for a while, or ever, be sure to have as complete a health history form filled out and reviewed in advance of starting any treatment. Discuss any questions you have beforehand with the patient. If any complicated treatment is being considered, discuss this with their physician before proceeding. Make such a conversation note in the patient’s chart. Use common sense and due caution in performing any treatment on a patient—for everyone’s sake.