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Dr. Gregory Oxford, 2011-2012 FAP President
President's Message
Gregory E. Oxford, DDS, MS, PhD
 As my term as your president comes to a close early next year I want to thank each of you for your kind
words, thoughts and recognition that you have given me through this year. I feel truly blessed to have
been allowed to serve you, our profession and our specialty in this manner. I remain encouraged by the
quality of professionals we continue to attract to periodontics.
As I reflect about the path my dental career has taken to reach this professional summit, I believe I speak
for many of the more "seasoned" in our group – we have been fortunate to have been mentored by many
competent, kind, talented, patient, masters of our profession. From my dental school days counting
PMNs in Dr. Tom Van Dyke's laboratory or graphing statistical results for Dr. Steve Offenbacher, to
seminars with Drs. Jim Mellonig and Jerry Bowers and laboratory study with Dr. Hari Reddi to name a
few, I am blessed. None of us could have arrived at this point in our careers without a lot of support and
nurturing from very caring individuals. Think back and remember how each of us started. Only a very
few of us were fortunate to have graduated and immediately started in a quality practice with professionals willing to commit the time and energy to enhance our professional development. Most of
us started in managed care, as itinerant periodontists or in government or military practices. We did
what we had to do to get started, we have all been there, teaching part-time, working for the VA or in
general practice while we started our periodontal practices.
I am truly concerned about the difficult challenges our young periodontists face. With educational loans
frequently in excess of one quarter of a million dollars, difficulties finding practice opportunities of any
type, social pressures to buy fancy cars, big houses, get married, have children, and the list goes on.
Consider the ethical and moral dilemmas they must encounter, that we encountered, with educational
loans, car payments, house payments, family's financial needs weighing on them daily. All this while
they are trying to make a decision for a patient on whether to extract a compromised tooth and install a
dental implant or attempt to salvage the tooth with scaling and root planing, re-evaluation and then
possible periodontal surgery! The pressure our young providers are feeling is intense. No one in dental
school or residency prepared for these ethical pressures and no one is looking over our shoulders! They
need our support, if for nothing more, to know that they are not alone. Just like our children who think
we were always adults, young providers frequently look at us like we were always experienced. Our
young providers need to know we have been in similar scenarios and let them know what we did to
survive. Let them know that you can be successful doing the right thing, not compromising your
standards. Knowledge is knowing what to do, wisdom is doing it. Continue to do your best, practice in
the light, be openly proud of your work and treat people with honesty, integrity and respect.
Please make the effort to mentor our young professionals. It is easier for us to open up to them than is it
for them to address us! Remember how fortunate we are to have been so well-mentored. Take the time
to seek out a new periodontist and really talk to them, you'll be surprised how good it will make you
feel! You can start to make this commitment a reality by attending the Friday morning session at our
February meeting. The newest members of our specialty, the residents of both of our state's graduate
programs will provide presentations for our group at this time.
In closing, thank you for the privilege you have given me this year. I am proud to be your friend and
colleague. Please come to our winter meeting in Orlando and connect with your friends and peers and
maybe change someone's life!
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