November Proofs Note from the Editor

By Kevin Henry
Editor, Proofs

It's November 2 and I'm sitting in Indian Wells, Calif., waiting on the opening dinner to signal the beginning of the Dental Trade Alliance's annual meeting. I am writing this editor's note on the evening of historic elections in the United States. One of our most precious rights as American citizens is the right to vote and let our individual voices be heard. Today, across our nation, people exercised that right.

Whether you're Republican, Democrat, Independent, Tea Party supporter, or "none of the above" (which actually was a candidate on the ballot in the Nevada senate race), you must admit that today's elections will have an effect on the next two years of our country. Accordingly, it will also have an impact on the dental industry. As we all know, the attitudes of the American public eventually funnel their way into the dental practice ... and into the orders that are placed by the dental team. We've stood by for months and watched to see how the recession would affect the dental industry. Now we'll wait to see how today's elections translate into dollars coming from dental practices.

The DTA meeting and its predecessors have seemingly always had interesting timing when it came to elections. I remember being in Florida in 2000 for the American Dental Trade Association meeting when the infamous "hanging chad" threw the Sunshine State and the presidential election into a tizzy. Now, 10 years later, I'm on the other side of the country at another gathering of dental industry leaders on another key date.

While I called the timing "interesting" in the paragraph above, I should actually call it "perfect." Being here with many of the men and women who shape the future of our industry gave me the perfect opportunity to ask 10 of them what they believe 2011 will hold for dentistry. You can find that article on DentistryIQ.com by clicking here.

Speaking of DentistryIQ.com, that's the online home for Proofs magazine, including the U.S. dealer and manufacturer directories that have for many, many years been a part of the November and January issues of Proofs. This year, I decided to make a change and move those directories completely online. Why? I wanted to maximize the space in each issue of Proofs. Previous directories have taken 70 to 80 pages of the magazine. The sheer size of it has overwhelmed other editorial in the past, and I believe it's time for Proofs to take a step into the future by putting our biggest directories online.

Now looking back on the DTA annual meeting — I must say it was one of the most informative and well-run gatherings I’ve attended in my 11 years in the dental industry. The speakers were phenomenal (you can read my blogs while listening to DTA speakers Stuart Varney of FOX News, Steve Forbes, and Travelocity.com Terry Jones by clicking here) and the time for networking couldn’t be beat. My hat goes off to Gary Price, Fred Freedman, and the entire DTA staff for a job well done. Next year’s meeting will be in early November in Washington, D.C. Make sure to put it on your calendar and check out www.dentaltradealliance.org for more information.

Tonight (and every night) I am excited about the future of our industry. Change (in politics or publications) is a certainty of life. I think the changes we've made in the print version of Proofs will benefit you. We'll see how the changes in Washington pan out.

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