Go West, CDS

Dr Stablein recently traveled to Mexico to attend the Mexican Dental Association (ADM) meeting here, which runs concurrent with the AMIC Dental expo.

The CDS president, who also practices as a periodontologist, explained that he was trying to recruit Mexican dentists to come to Chicago. "That's why I traveled to the 2009 FDI World Dental Congress in Singapore," he said, "and I will go also to 2010 FDI World Dental Congress in Brazil."

"I think the CDS has a responsibility to distribute knowledge," concluded Dr Stablein. "We have something for everybody. And Chicago is a truly fun city."

And the most significant change in this year's CMM is that it will take place at the newly built West Building of McCormick Place, which is much larger. The theme of the meeting is "Go West, CDS", which paraphrases the 1851 "Go West, young man," attributed to New York Tribune journalist Horace Greeley as a way of encouraging opportunity.

"This is a great opportunity for our Society," added Dr. Stablein. "We haven't been able to grow in booth space in the past three years, and we have sold more exhibiting space than in 2009."

With 142 speakers, 175 courses and 40 participation courses, the 145th Chicago Midwinter Meeting will be provide a smorgasbord of offerings. "This is a great opportunity for exhibitors and for the Society, because we can do more things in this bigger space," he said.

The CDS president explained that "We have 10,500 seats for lectures in the new place, which is now all in one location. That's 1,000 more seats than before, and 50 per cent of the courses are free.”

Thirty per cent of the speakers are new, and there are programs for female dentists and Spanish-language courses. "We have a session each day, where we feature female speakers, talking on issues of special interest to women," Dr Stablein said. "We also have a Spanish-language programme, and for the first time, free health screening, for members and for all attendees."

In the US, 25 per cent of the working dentists are female. "60-65 per cent of all of our attendees are female, including dentists, dental assistants and dental hygienists, so it makes sense to dedicate courses to females."

Dr. Stablein said they expect about 2,000 foreign attendees, "which I think it's fabulous, and the reason that I'm down here in Mexico, to encourage more people to come to this meeting. My wife (Dr. Caroline Scholtz) is from Colombia, and she's a paediatric dentist, and has been working in many parts of the meeting that she does better than I do."

Asked how speakers are chosen, Dr Stablein said that "my Program Chair and my General Chair have been going to meetings for the last three years, rating and evaluating speakers and topics."

All the courses provide CE credits and since Illinois requires 48 hours over three years or 16 hours per year, this means you can get your continual education needs for one year in one weekend.

"I think you could say the CMM is a smorgasbord, a little of everything and not a lot of anything," he added.