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GP SPRING 2019 Each child represents the future of a family
Guest Editorial
and, in turn, a community. As doctors, we
By Bernard Fialkoff, DDS
SPRING 2019
treat the parents, grandparents, aunts and
uncles of those very children. We owe them
Drug-Free World
GPS to guide us safely to our destinations;
The Journal of the As Moving Toward a the care and guidance they need. We use a
likewise drug education and truthful
our
dentists,
New York State Academy competence in accom- consequences helps guide youths and adults
of General Dentistry plishing impossible to recognize the drug danger they face.
procedures is awe-
New York State Academy of General Dentistry inspiring. We labor As dentists we educate our patients that
candy, cookies, and sugary foods, although
19-02 Whitestone Expressway, Suite 204 away for hours, many tasty, lead to caries, obesity, diabetes and
Whitestone, NY 11357 times under a watery cardiovascular disease. In the same manner
Telephone: 718-747-3353 or bloody field and we should provide factual, scientific
Fax: 718-747-3355 on a moving target, to information about drugs. This information
To Contact the NYSAGD, visit our website repair and heal oral disease. We create dental provides guidance to the individual’s internal
at www.nysagd.org and periodontal works of oral art and health. GPS requisite to avoid addiction and death.
During the course of our work we also need to
Janice Pliszczak, DDS, MS, MBA, MAGD be adept counselors that allay apprehension This helps to empower safe, non-violent
Editor and transform fear into smiles and beauty. communities, helps to popularize a drug-
free lifestyle that enhances the likelihood
Analia Veitz-Keenan, DDS Now more than ever, in 2022, the shocking of logical choices, and helps to decrease
Co-Editor statistic of more than 100,000 American drug prejudice and bigotry.
Paula Bostick deaths in 2021 eclipsing the 58,000 of the We know that a human being’s strength and
Executive Director entire 10-year Vietnam War, awakens us to most important weapon is their knowledge,
the urgency of eradicating this human crisis. certainty, and confidence. Knowledge
2022 Executive Council This malady cries out to our dental profession and truth empower a person to reach
to take the lead in doing something effective understanding and give them the innate
President – Shahram (Sean) Shekib, DDS, JD, with the same competence and skill that we power to determine their actions and self-
FAGD, FICD, FAADS, FPFA, FACD have applied to eradicating caries. The time determine what they consider to be correct
2178 63 Street, Brooklyn, NY 11204 is now to cure the societal cancer of drug for their lives - A self-determined, confident
rd
addiction. decision, full of certainty.
President-Elect – Analia Veitz-Keenan, DDS The 2016 United Nations Drug Conference
NYU College of Dentistry, 345 East 24 Street concluded that education and prevention Our fellow human beings have suffered long
th
New York, NY 10010 enough. Let’s awaken to our duty to reach
were the paths to handling the global drug out, educate, prevent, show the way, so that
epidemic. As healthcare professionals we
Treasurer – Joseph DiDonato, III, DDS, MBA, FAGD have a duty to our patients and their families nothing interferes in reaching our patients
680 South Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620 with the truth about drugs and addiction.
to educate them on the truth about drugs. As
dentists, we too often witness the mutilation We live in the midst of a permissive society
Secretary – Berry Stahl, DMD of dentitions caused by drug and alcohol made afraid to act. As Globetrotter Robert
4422 Third Avenue, Bronx, NY 10457
addiction in addition to the destruction of a Hunter states, “This is World War 3. In the
personality and psyche. chaos and stress of today’s society and
Editor – Janice Pliszczak, DDS, MS, MBA, MAGD environmental menace, youth are easily
4827 Broad Road, Syracuse, NY 13215 No person likes to be lectured about what confused and manipulated. It is all humanity
he or she can or cannot do, so pursuing an united against the true enemy - Drugs.”
National Trustee – Ira Levine, DDS, MAGD educational approach to provide facts that
111 North Central Park Avenue, Suite 208, empower youth to choose not to take drugs in Together we can reach others. Do not think
Hartsdale, NY 10538 the first place, is the winning approach. It is that our responsibility reaches only to the
important to note that if parents talk to their limits of our offices. Each patient and young
Regional Director – Seung-Hee Rhee, DDS, MAGD kids about drugs, they are 40% less likely to person are our responsibility because they
110 East 40 Street, New York, NY 10016 try drugs. And if we educate our youth at an as a whole create the community our offices
th
early age to avoid substance abuse before 21 are located in and depend upon. As dental
Immediate Past-President – Teresa Skalyo, DDS, FAGD years of age, then statistics show less than professionals we have the Hippocratic Oath to
404 W. William Street, Geneva, NY 14456 2.1% will develop dependence. help. There are no margins, no demographic
The truth is that when we educate someone prejudice to drug addiction, no exclusions are
ever granted. When you complain of down
GP – Journal of the New York State Academy of on the physical and mental effects of drugs,
General Dentistry is published twice a year by we are working for the future lives of our economics, of social unrest, of irresponsible
the New York State Academy of General Dentistry. sons and daughters, our family’s future, our people, of murder, you are looking at the
The issues are mailed out in March and September products of drug and alcohol abuse. The
to all the members of the New York State Academy own hopes and dreams. The development of fate of ourselves, our families and our
of General Dentistry and are available on-line addiction is like a vicious cycle: chronic drug communities are what we are deciding.
at www.nysagd.org. All correspondence should use not only misaligns a person’s priorities
be addressed to the Editor at 19-02 Whitestone but also may alter key brain areas necessary We, as educated professionals, can lead
Expressway, Suite 204, Whitestone, NY 11357. for judgment and self-control, further and safeguard others with facts and truth.
The views, opinions and recommendations reducing the individual’s ability to control As individuals we can unite in our dental
expressed in this publication are those of the or stop their drug use. This is why, despite societies as groups and bring positivity to our
respective authors and are not necessarily popular belief, willpower alone is often communities, cities and nations. The future is
endorsed by the Academy of General Dentistry.
Placement of an advertisement in GP – Journal insufficient to overcome an addiction. Drug now. This crisis begs for a new view, no longer
of the New York State Academy of General use compromises the very parts of the brain of fear or closed mindedness. We as health
Dentistry does not indicate an endorsement that make it possible to “say no.” This is why professionals can arise and truly merit the title
of its products or services by the Academy of education and not starting does more than of Doctor. To create not just smiles, but also
General Dentistry. telling an individual to “just say no” after a drug-free world for our kids, our grandkids,
ISSN 2770-2391 these changes have started to occur. our patients, our communities, and ourselves.
www.nysagd.org l Fall 2022 l GP 3