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LDADr. Lynn PhilippePresident, Louisiana State Board of Dentistrylouisiana state board of dentistrySeven Words…Welcome 2009! Although I hope you all had ajoyous holiday season, I’m certain that no oneregrets saying goodbye to 2008. Therein lies a desirefor something new and hopefully better.A person that I admire once said that there areseven words that most humans hate to hear (and forthose gray enough to remember, NO! they are not theinfamous seven words expounded by the late comedianGeorge Carlin). The dreaded seven are “we never didit like this before” or in short “change.” As humanbeings with a free will we can effect change throughoutour personal, social, political and professional livesfor our earthly existence. It is because of this abilityto adapt that we do not become stagnant, but yetcontinue to grow and evolve as a society. We must bewilling to continue to “take the leap” and attempt toexperience and learn new things. This allows growthand, with proper instruction and development, shouldbring positive results. After all, this is why the studyof history is so important so that we learn from themistakes of the past and hopefully never repeat norcontinue them.This brings me to one of the changes that I feel weshould strive to accomplish - changing the deliveryof the printed word. Communication has evolved inits format, whether verbal, pictorial, or written fromhammer and chisel to handwritten ink and paper,to the printing press and now to electronic delivery.And all of these improvements have allowed for widerand more rapid dissemination of information, whichis critically important in our fast paced world oftoday. To put it simply, I am talking about Web siteand e-mail communications for official information,notifications, and license and permit renewals.By moving into this 21st century mode, we canaccomplish at least four objectives: 1) A more rapidturnaround in the dissemination and processing ofinformation, permitting and licensing (both new andrenewal). The LSBD staff spends approximately 25%of their working hours on the physical handling,sorting, copying, stuffing and mailing of the necessarydocuments. This is time better spent on ensuring theaccuracy of these and other duties, 2) A significantreduction in the operating expenses of the LSBD,since a portion of the operating expenses of the LSBDcomes from the aforementioned duties (and postageand supply costs alone will never decrease). Andremember, the expenses are covered by the incomewhich is obtained from you and me in the form oflicense and permit fees. Therefore, this can help delayand offset future increases in said fees, 3) Legallymandated storage of all necessary public documents.This is also costly and time and space consuming, and4) And last but certainly not least, it helps eliminatea magnitude of wasted office supplies as we continueto try to conserve our resources. Please join me inbringing this to fruition this year for it is through ourconcerted effort that we can accomplish this task.I also wish to thank the LSBD members whoseterms have expired for their dedication and time,encourage the sustaining members for their continueddiligence and welcome the newly appointed membersto openly participate in fulfilling the mission of theLSBD. I am also extremely grateful for the participationand input from the representatives of the LDA andits the component societies, the Louisiana DentalHygienists’ Association, the Louisiana Dental AssistantsAssociation and the LSU School of Dentistry.www.ladental.orgSpring 2009 33