Big band music in the Big Easy
SmileCon Opening Session highlights New Orleans music, themes
The doors opened. The horns sounded. Mardi Gras colors were flowing. The dancers sashayed down the aisle. There was even a man on stilts. The parade had begun and so had SmileCon 2024 in New Orleans.
The True Blue Brass Band entered the ballroom at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Oct. 17 to kick off the Opening Session for hundreds of SmileCon attendees. Hosted by Trudy-Ann Frazier, D.D.S., known as “Dr. Freeze,” the audience also heard from ADA leaders and keynote speaker Shawn Kanungo, a bestselling author and organizational expert.
Mr. Kanungo, who has guided countless organizations through major technological shifts, discussed how the dental profession can successfully leverage the rise of artificial intelligence. He showed an example of downloading a sample dental claim form from the ADA website and using AI to transform it into an interactive web app.
“Your next hire will be smarter than you,” Mr. Kanungo said. “Your next hire will be on 24/7. That next hire will be AI.”
He predicted that by the end of 2025, every dental practice will have their own AI chatbot or AI avatar. He cautioned that dentists will “still need a human in the middle,” but that “at some point, it’s going to be medical malpractice not to use AI.”
Visit Mr. Kanungo's website to see a recap of his keynote, tools that he uses and watch a video of his After Show.
While Mr. Kanungo discussed how AI can transform dentists’ practices, ADA leaders discussed how the Association can change members’ lives.
“I’ve always wanted the ADA to be a place that feels like home; to be a big organization that feels like a small organization,” ADA President Linda J. Edgar, D.D.S., said. “Dentistry is a profession that welcomed me with open arms.”
She told the story of how at age 37, she was a first-year dental student. Dr. Edgar had been a teacher and also ran 45 marathons, qualified for the women’s Olympic trials and competed in three Ironman races. During her third Ironman, she crashed and broke four ribs.
“My husband, Bryan, who was a dentist, handed me a dental school application and said, ‘I think this might be safer than doing the Ironman,’” Dr. Edgar said. “Safer, yes. But dentistry – as we all know – offers its own thrills and rewards. Personally, the highest has come this year with the honor and privilege of serving as your ADA president — the fifth woman to do so in our 165-year history.”
ADA President-elect Brett Kessler, D.D.S., discussed his wellness journey in a video shown to the crowd. He talked about overcoming addiction and calling a state wellness program hotline to get help. Dr. Kessler has given back to patients with similar experiences to his.
“I often think about one patient who was recovering from an addiction to meth. I’d given her a denture, and as I handed her the mirror to see her new smile, I could see the tears well up in her eyes. She told me that, after several years of sobriety, that moment had been the first time she felt whole again, as if the scars of her addiction had been erased,” Dr. Kessler said. “This is why I went into dentistry. And it’s likely that everyone here has a similar story. Moments like these are why we all went into dentistry.”
