CDA Essentials 2018 • Volume 5 • Issue 3

12 | 2018 | Issue 3 CDA at W ork of stakeholders both inside and outside of dentistry. The range of perspectives add credibility to the report, he believes. “CDA will continue to support and maintain its priority projects and programs in the year ahead,” he says. “But reviewing the future of the profession report is important; we’ll consult our provincial and territorial dental associations and stakeholders and begin prioritizing next steps. The task force recommendations will explore some potentially difficult issues for the profession, but we need to move these issues forward, to clearly define a vision for the profession and ensure that dentistry can confidently meet the expectations of society in the future.” Professional perspectives Dr. Taillon got his start in organized dentistry 15 years ago, as chair of an economics committee of the College of Dental Surgeons of Saskatchewan. At the time, there weren’t enough young dentists and specialists to serve the province’s growing population and the committee was tasked with trying to address the dental workforce shortage. One of Mitch’s ideas was to host pizza nights at the University of Saskatchewan dental school, where he gave students a presentation about why they should stay in the province: there were great opportunities and dentists could have a rewarding career here. He also brought along practitioners from other parts of the province, so they could connect with students who might be interested in going to communities across Saskatchewan. The presentations seem to have made a difference; the number of dentists in Saskatchewan grew from roughly 350 in 2003 to close to 500 today. ❶ ❷ ❺ ❸ ❻ ❼ ❿