Open Arms

“I’m really excited and honored that the American Prosthodontic Society (APS) elected me to their Executive Council,” said Robert Kreyer, CDT on hearing the election results Friday, February 26 at this year’s annual APS meeting held during the Chicago Midwinter meeting. Kreyer, owner of Kreyer Dental Prosthetics in Larkspur, Calif. and well-known continuing education provider, is one of a growing number of technicians who have joined the only international dental society that recognizes dental technologists as equal voting members.

“Those of us practicing prosthetic dentistry recognize the value of our technology colleagues and how they work hand-in-hand with us in fabricating and designing dental prostheses,” said Dr. Esposito, current president of the APS.

Dental technologists have always been welcomed into the APS as members but until 2007 were elected to a separate category within the society. In 2007, APS members voted to eliminate the category of dental technologist and give technologists full member rights and privileges. And in that same year, the Society voted Todd Fridrich, CDT to sit on the APS’ six-member Executive Council. One other honor the society bestows upon a technologist each year is the Ken Rudd Award, given to a technologist for his or her demonstrated skill level, integrity, and contribution to prosthetic dentistry. The very prestigious award is sponsored each year by a grant from the Editorial Council of the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry. This year’s recipient was Matt Roberts, CDT; last year the award went to Willi Geller.

“As a dental society we want to be inclusive, not exclusive,” said Esposito. “ In our estimation there should be no membership distinction between dental technologist and dentists. After all, we work as an integrated team to serve the patient.”

At this year’s annual meeting, the APS also took another significant step toward recognizing the value of dental technology by voting at their annual business meeting in Chicago to change the society’s bylaws and allow not just Certified Dental Technicians as members but any technician currently working in the field who is sponsored by an active member of the Society. Esposito said the society as a group recognized that many, very good dental technicians (RDT’s, MDTs and other educated DLTs contributing to the field of prosthodontics, were not certified by the National  Board of Certification for Dental Laboratory Technology  and thus, until now, could not be accepted as APS members. 

“We’re very excited to announce that now any technologist can be sponsored into and is welcome to join the APS,” said Esposito. As it is for any dentist or dental technologist wishing to join the APS, the process begins with sponsorship from an existing APS member, validating the skills and integrity of the proposed new member. “We feel very strongly that we need to embrace dental professionals who have a profound interest in prosthetic dentistry, be they prosthodontists, general dentists, or dental technologists, and bring them into the group. We all benefit from that,” said Esposito.

New member applications are reviewed and approved on a quarterly rather than annual basis. All members of the APS receive a subscription to the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, reduced pricing for the annual meeting, and, Esposito said, in the future will have access to a rotating team experts hosted online at the APS Web site for case problem-solving.