Corydon Palmer Dental Society Marks Centennial
BOARDMAN, Ohio -- When the national president, national treasurer, state president, state secretary and state executive director are on hand, something significant or momentous is occurring.
So when the president of the American Dental Association, Dr. Robert Faiella of Boston, swore in the officers and trustees of the Corydon Palmer Dental Society Thursday at Mr. Anthony’s, it was to recognize a milestone, the 100th anniversary of the society and to congratulate members for “how well you provide for the underserved, how well you provide care for those who need it,” Faiella said.
“You do that exceedingly well.”
The newly installed president of the Corydon Palmer Dental Society, Dr. Donald Brunetti, pledged to continue those efforts in the Mahoning Valley as he announced a three-pronged effort to improve dental health and the efficiency of the practices of the dentists who comprise the society.
“We need to think more strategically,” he told his colleagues who filled Mr. Anthony’s. Dentists here and in partnership with the American Dental Association (ADA) must speak more forcefully on how Americans -- both those who have dental insurance and those who lack it – must protect their teeth.
“Social media is changing how we go about getting our message out,” Brunetti noted. Where dentists have been more concerned about “science-based” messages, today they must use a consumerism model to make Americans more aware of oral hygiene.
To that end, the ADA, working with the national Ad Council, soon will commence a $100 million campaign about oral health, about the need for every American to brush their teeth for two minutes twice a day, whether with a regular toothbrush or an electric toothbrush.
Afterward, Brunetti, whose practice is in Austintown, said the type of toothbrush doesn’t necessarily make a difference. The important thing is to brush. Because people often daydream while they brush, an electric model might hold an edge as people “let the electric brush do most of the work. Whatever works for you,” he elaborated. “The important thing is to brush regularly.”
He also advised changing the head of an electric toothbrush at least once every other month and a regular toothbrush at least once a month.
Locally, Rubenstein Associates, Liberty Township, the public relations firm for Corydon Palmer, will handle much of the dental society’s yearlong campaign to improve dental health in the Valley, Vic Rubenstein said.
Part of the campaign consists of three television spots that promote Give Kids a Smile, Brunetti said, and will “be aimed at kids who have never gone to a dentist.”
The efforts in the Valley will consist of “Give Kids a Smile Day,” a program begun a decade ago to offer basic dental screening and exams to underserved children, Dental OPTIONS and Access Health Mahoning Valley.
In the first, Valley dentists and their staffs, along with hygienists, assistants and students at Choffin Career Center, Youngstown State University and Dr. Jeffrey Caldwell’s office in Columbiana County participate in a two-day program to help youngsters, especially those who have never been to a dentist, improve their care.
With Options (Ohio Partnership to Improve Oral health through access to Needed Services), the Ohio Department of Health, in partnership with the Ohio Dental Association, helps Ohioans in serious need of dental treatments or special care but have held back for want of ability to pay. Options dentists either work at reduced rates or work pro bono.
Access Mahoning Valley is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to assure access to health care, including dental care, for low-income uninsured residents of Mahoning and Trumbull counties. The dental component, where dentists donate their services, “was conceived in late 2011 and became a reality” last month, Rubenstein says.
Former Corydon Palmer President Dr. Marybeth Shaffer and Dr. Debbie Juruaz, provided the impetus and secured a grant of $8,000 for supplies. Much of the treatment takes place at St. Elizabeth Medical Center, Youngstown.
Brunetti praised the dentists who belong to Corydon Palmer for their pro bono work, noting the number is increasing and new dentists step up as volunteers all the time. “Our membership ratio, 85% of the dentists in the three-county area, surpasses the national average of 70%,” he said.
Critical to pro bono work and working at reduced rates, Brunetti said, is having adequate supplies and good equipment. “Most facilities are staffed with enough dentists,” said.
Dentistry has changed considerably since Corydon Palmer, a native of Trumbull County, practiced in the late 1800s. Palmer was not only a skilled dentist, he designed and made many of his own tools. In the late 19th century, it was mostly the wealthy who visited a dentist regularly and wealthy patients in New York City visited him in Warren, traveling here in their private railroad cars.
He created the Palmer Notation, a method dentists used worldwide to report information about a patient’s condition down to a single tooth and he is still remembered for the inventions and procedures dentists used and the articles he wrote for dental journals.
Asked what would most surprise Palmer if he could return today to visit a dentist’s office, Brunetti said it would be “the advancements in dental equipment we have today.”
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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