Aloha spirit reigned supreme as ADI Fellows and Fellows-elect gathered in Honolulu, Hawaii, for our annual ADI-USA Convention. Some arrived on Monday, to be picked up Tuesday for our escorted ride to the traditional Tuesday evening social for fellowship and getting acquainted. Our destination was Paradise Cove, with an elaborate luau and their guests of honor in the Royal Box, the Academy of Dentistry International.

A great time was had by all, many photographs, many activities, and the wonderful island dinner served to us as the cultural show began. We continue to have our Tuesday evening social due to events like this, sharing the local color and having a beautiful time together.

Wednesday morning started early, with our USA Board meeting at 7 AM. Camaraderie is always a most enjoyable part of our Board meeting. Breakfast was enjoyed as business began. Officers for our next 2-year term are as follows: Dr. Jacob Park, Chair USA Section; Dr. Jaikrishnan Kakanar, Vice Chair; Dr. Dat Giap, Treasurer; and Dr. Sue Bishop as Secretary. Dr. Bishop has been a pillar for ADI over many years, including being Past President of ADI, and supporting the USA Section financially in many regards.

Our CE involved topics related to medically compromised patients and their treatment. Dr. Daniel Ninan (formerly SW Regent, now SE Regent) gave a very interesting course dealing with our special patients, pregnancy, and dental treatment. He recently had his excellent book published by Quintessence Publishing, and I recommend it to all who are seeing patients, pregnant ones who do or do not know it!

This was followed by Dr. John Harden and the treatment of patients who are too compromised to be treated in the office and need to have OR treatment. I met Dr. Harden when he gave this course at CDA in Anaheim, California, 5 years ago, and nominated him for our FADI. An excellent response was had by both presenters from the participants’ questions and involvement in these related topics.

After our Chau Lam luncheon, the Orientation and Convocation proceeded. The new Fellows inducted were as follows:

Dr. Bryan Bauer, Wheaton, IL

Dr. Andrew S. Beer, Normal, IL

Dr. Bruce L. Cassis, Fayetteville, W Virginia

Dr. Jung-Wei Chen, Loma Linda, CA

Dr. Paula Grisales, Apopka, FL

Dr. Keven M. Gureckis, San Antonio, TX

Dr. Gary Kerstetter, Temecula, CA

Dr. Chuck S. Kon, Colton, CA

Dr. Collet Masillamoni, Yuma, AZ

Dr. Todd Ellis Shatkin, Amherst, NY

Dr. Karyn L. Stockwell, Kennesaw, GA

Dr. Ben F. Sarner, Bellaire, TX

Dr. Paul H. Yoo, Lihue, Hawaii.

My hearty congratulations to all 13 of our new Fellows, of special note, the five from my alma mater, Loma Linda University. You are to be congratulated by the dental community, and we request that you be proud to be a Fellow of a distinguished dental honor society, as you pursue your respective careers of service to humanity and education to colleagues around the world. We are all very proud of you, and please also be proud of yourselves for this milestone accomplishment!

Our Gala went on without glitches, and all new Fellows were honored by their fellow Fellows. We always recommend to new Fellows that they incorporate into their professional lives, being aware of fellow colleagues who would qualify for Fellowship in the Academy, and easily nominate them on the ADI website, www.adint.org, and the rest will be handled by our wonderful Central Office and Membership Chairman, Dr. Kakanar.

As we continue on in our journey of service to others through our fingers and our hearts, may we always remember that we are not tooth carpenters, rather Doctors of Dental Surgery (Dental Medicine), and treat each person we see as if we or a family member were sitting in the chair.

On all my dental mission adventures, which I wholeheartedly recommend, I have always kept something in mind: “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: The ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” (Albert Schweitzer MD).