Jeff Kendrick, DMD

It is my honor and privilege to assume the presidency of the Northern District Dental Society for the 2010-11 year.  I look forward to serving the members of this District.  We have put together quite a team to serve the Northern.

It has been a tough year for me personally.  My days as a lumberjack-dentist are over!  Fortunately I have been able to get back to work.  I did enjoy during my disability going to meetings and staying engaged with other dentists.  If nothing else, talking with others was a form of mental health.  I would strongly encourage dentists to take younger dentists under their wings and mentor them.  We will be reconstituting the mentorship program in the future.

This year I look forward to continue promoting the Greater Atlanta Dental Foundation.  This is the Northern District's charitable organization, which helps fund local area clinics that serve the underprivileged.  The GALA for Smiles is our main fundraiser.  This year John Muse and Sidney Tourial had an exciting auction to further our efforts to raise funds.  Our goal is to build a corpus so we can approach other organizations to provide financial support for the Foundation.  If you could not attend this year's GALA to honor Dr. Brad Greenway, please consider sponsorship or contributing as a Foundation Club member.  The success of our Foundation is up to us, the members.  Please use your contacts in the community to help us identify potential donors.

The Northern District will continue to sponsor CE throughout the year.  Carol Woolfe has put together a great program. 

The entire NDDS schedule is always available online at www.NDDS.org and on page xx of this publication. 
Be sure and mark your calendars for the Legislative Reception on December 14 to be held at Druid Hills Country Club.  This is a great chance to meet and talk with Legislators in a relaxed environment.  This year we will see a large turnover of Legislators.  To stay connected we need dentists to volunteer to be contact dentists.  Troy Schulman is in charge of governmental affairs.  Please call one of us to serve as a contact!

Another way to help dentistry, is by going down to the capitol on Wednesday while the Legislature is in session and participate in Law Day.  This program is both fun and informative.  I would strongly encourage you to bring a friend along. 

In an effort to serve the public Northern District dentists are needed to serve on Give Kids a Smile Day in February.  On August 11-13, 2011 we will have another opportunity to serve during Georgia's first Mission of Mercy Project to be held at the Woodstock First Baptist Church.  This is a huge endeavor that has been in the planning stage for several months.  This is a statewide project to serve mainly needy adults.  Your time and talents will be needed to pull this event off.

October 28th of this year we will have our membership meeting to recognize new members and hear from our executive director and state officers.  We look forward to hosting a staff appreciation meeting in the spring.  Both of these events provide a good time for fellowship.

We have a great organization in NDDS due to the hard work of our members.  I encourage all dentists to get involved.  Help maintain our market share and voice for dentistry.

Jeff Kendrick