CDA Essentials 2018 • Volume 5 • Issue 3

CDA at W ork Starting out Mitch remembers when he found out he had been accepted for dental school at the University of Saskatchewan. “From that moment, I felt like I had won the lottery and was a part of this profession. I was signed up. I was going to be a dentist and a CDA member one day—I even read the CDA journal cover to cover, and at the beginning I didn’t understand most of it!” he laughs. He married his high school sweetheart, Monique, the first year of dental school and spent one summer working on a student license in his father’s practice, a test drive for both of them. After graduating in 1984, Mitch went to work with his father in Assiniboia. With encouragement from his dad, Mitch became the owner of the practice where he had first imagined his life as a dentist. Their business partnership worked well, and Dr. Taillon modelled the lessons he’d learned from Rod about fulfilling his professional responsibility to society. It’s a perspective that drives his work—in the way that he’s practised dentistry and in the contributions he’s made to the profession throughout his career—particularly in improving access to care, which remains an important issue for him. Most recently, he served as chair of the CDA Working Group on Access to Care for five years, leading initiatives in support of early dental visits for infants (CDA’s First Visit, First Tooth program), and standards of oral health care for residents of long-term care facilities. “These were challenging issues to tackle,” recalls Dr. Taillon. “But the rewards of working with a very dedicated group committed to improving oral health for these vulnerable groups were definitely the highlights of my experience on the CDA Board of Directors. Dentistry is a giving profession and we have an obligation to give back to society, especially to those with the greatest needs.” The working group’s achievements reaffirmed to Mitch that dentists working together can make a difference and improve oral health for Canadians. In the year ahead, Dr. Taillon will guide CDA’s expanding focus on access to care, on projects that aim to reduce barriers to care for people with cognitive disabilities and for Indigenous children. Both populations face a greater risk of dental disease than the general population. Another focus will be prioritizing recommendations made by a national advisory task force on the future of the profession established to examine changes that will affect the dental profession, and society in general, over the next 15 years. The task force sought the perspectives of 25 people recruited from various domains within the profession, along with input from a variety Professional Milestones 1984: DMD, College of Dentistry, University of Saskatchewan 1985: President, Moose Jawand District Dental Society 2003–10: Council, College of Dental Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CDSS) 2007: Fellow, Pierre Fauchard Academy 2008–09: President of CDSS 2010: Elected to CDA Board of Directors 2010: Fellow, International College of Dentists 2011: Chair, Western Canada Section, Pierre Fauchard Academy 2011–16: Chair, National CoordinatingWorking Group on Access to Care, CDA 2012: Distinguished Service Award, CDSS 2014: 30-Year Service Award, CDSS 2017–18: Chair, e-ClaimsWorking Group, CDA