Transcription:
Who Needs the OMS Foundation in this Day and Age? (Hint: You do)

Bill Klaproth (host): This is an AAOMS On-The-Go podcast. I'm Bill Klaproth. And with me is Dr. Louis K. Rafetto, who is here to discuss who needs the OMS Foundation in this day and age. Hint? You do. Dr. Rafetto, thanks for being here.

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: Bill, thanks for having me.

Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, this is going to be very interesting. So tell me about the vision that led to the creation of the OMS Foundation in 1959. And why did the specialty's leaders think it was important that AAOMS have its own Foundation?

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: Well, I think partly they recognize there's limits of what AAOMS can and cannot do. They also recognize there was an important need for research and to support the continued growth and the credibility of the specialty. So they established a Foundation with a goal of supporting the discovery and validation of new knowledge. But at the same time, they recognize that just having that knowledge is only one part of it. It had to be disseminated to the proper parties of interest, membership and people beyond there. And further, they understood that in order to do this in a meaningful way, they had to raise some funds. So, you know, you get started with an ID, and it kind of snowballs and there's other things that become a part of it.

Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. So you mentioned research and growth. How does the Foundation's mission then intersect with the goals of the modern day OMS?

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: So by modern day, I'm assuming you mean kind of the boots-on-the-ground folks that are out there practicing.

Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah.

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: And I think that what's important to understand is that we live in a time when new information is coming in at an extremely rapid pace. It's difficult to keep up with this. So when you have a group like the Foundation, they have the opportunity to say, "Well, what are the important areas for investigation? What questions need to be answered. And how can we best do that?"

So by identifying and then supporting research that translates into helping the individual clinician on a day-to-day basis and their patients, that's really what we try to do. So we try to say, "Hey, what's really needed here. What are the important elements? How can we find the best researchers to do this?" And then, support them in that effort.

Bill Klaproth (host): So talking about the research and the message that you're able to spread to the OMS industry. Can you give some examples of the research that the Foundation has funded that has significantly impacted the OMS specialty?

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: Absolutely. So historically, probably the best example would be the Third Molar Clinical Trials that were performed a number of years ago. But it came at a time where management strategies for patients with third molars were being questioned by folks, for example, in the insurance industry. So as a result of this, a multi-year, multi-centered and multi-faceted study was supported by the Foundation as well as AAOMS. And as a result of that, and this went on for a number of years, there's a tremendous amount of data that was harvested, more than 125 articles and abstracts. But currently, if you go forward to what's going on now, there's certain issues out there in society and within the specialty that are important to address. And one example is the study we have at the University of Pennsylvania on the efficacy of NSAID or anti-inflammatory pain medication for third molar patients. So in other words, if we can shift away from prescribing opioids and shift toward things like NSAID medications, that's an important thing to be able to do and find which patients are the right ones to do that.

Another one, since anesthesia is a big issue, and has been for some time in our specialty, we are supporting a study being conducted at the University of Michigan on the efficacy of an anesthesia simulation training curriculum. So in the short term will be, as a result of this, how can we better train residents to be competent and capable in anesthesia? And then, long-term, how can that information be then morphed into addressing the same needs on sort of like the individuals who are out there in practice.

And probably, the last example that I'd like to cite is one that's being conducted at Texas A&M Dental College. And it's one looking at how artificial intelligence can be used to assess the risks of surgical and non-surgical treatment for patients with orbital fractures. And while there's a need for that specific condition, I think more so it begins to look at how can we create our own input into the technologies that will affect how treatment is performed in the future. So rather than having folks that don't have our expertise driving that wagon, we have to have people within our specialty who can create these kinds of protocols that are effective for both patients and ourselves.

Bill Klaproth (host): So you're just mentioning people bringing that up and people are so important to our industry. And if the future of this specialty depends on its ability to attract top talent to the OMS residency and on the availability of highly qualified academicians to educate them, how does the Foundation then support that process?

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: I think this is something that is a bit overlooked when people think about the Foundation within our specialty. They think primarily about just a research piece or maybe just an education piece. And I think it's a mosaic of things. So one of the things is that we like to support people at different levels. So for example, we have a student research training awards and that actually kind of identifies and, if you will, support people at the dental school level. We support what's called this SCORE curriculum, which is a curriculum that assists educators and residents to learn the important basic things within the specialty.

And then, at the next level up, if you will, we support what are called the Faculty Educator Development Award. So, this identifies and supports young educators and sort of helps them to decide to be in that side of the specialty, if you will, so they can not only educate them, but help them become better leaders.

Bill Klaproth (host): Right. So we're talking about attracting top talent is very much needed. So then, how does the Foundation support the development once we find the top talent of the specialty's future leaders then?

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: So I think that leadership development is something that's talked about a lot out there, if you will. But it's more than one thing. So, while, I think as an overview, you can look at it and say what we want to be able to do is identify folks with the greatest potential to become leaders. And then, we want to support them by providing them not only educational opportunities, but even more so the opportunity to interact with thought leaders, with people that are kind of pushing the envelope, put them in the places where they can have those interactions and develop that mentor-type of relationship.

And some of the different ways that I think we helped to put right people in the right place, one is that we support travel scholarships to formal AAOMS educational programs. So that not only provides a learning opportunity, but again, equally or maybe more important, allows those recipients to be exposed to and interact with leaders in the specialty. We also provide learning and mentorship opportunities through our supportive things like the clinical trials method course. This is a way to take people who have some interest in being researchers and kind of show them what that's all about and, again, hook them up with people who are active in that field.

And there are clinical other individual efforts such as, again, I mentioned the FEDA awards that supports the young faculty members. And we have young, talented people coming out of training programs and they're sort of faced with this introductory question of, "Do I want to be a clinician in private practice or do I want to be an academician?" So we're having the FEDA award for providing them some support to say, "Hey, maybe academics can be an attractive place for you to be."

And I could go on for some more things, but in fact, probably one more that's important to connect with is what's called our GIVE program. And the GIVE program supports international, if you will, medical surgical missions. Having been on a number of these myself, I've seen the impact, not only on my life, but the lives of some people I've been with. Because not only do they help folks enhance their technical skills, maybe in an area of something like cleft palate surgery. But more importantly, they support the development of a broader worldview. And it sort of provides an enhanced cultural literacy experience. I think equally it may be the most important thing is it encourages the development of resourcefulness. And so when you're in some of these environments, all of a sudden things aren't the way they normally are. You're stretched and challenged in different ways. And folks who are recipients get to not only see how sort of the more senior leaders can deal with this, but also figure it out themselves.

Bill Klaproth (host): And it certainly sounds like AAOMS certainly plays a huge part in the training and development of an OMS. Is that right?

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: There's really kind of two things, our role and then AAOMS's role. So AAOMS as an overall organization to the specialty provides certain things. For example, we're here at the Annual Meeting and they provide formal educational programs and other related things. We sort of think of our effort as being to some extent year-round, and providing the opportunities for folks to not only research, but help the educators educate and, again, help develop the experiences of the young individuals.

Bill Klaproth (host): I want to talk a little bit about the strategic alliance now. So the Foundation and AAOMS entered into a strategic alliance in 2018. What were the objectives of that Alliance? And has it been effective?

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: Well, first, it has been effective. So the Foundation had been going on for a number of years, doing good work. There came that point when some of the folks on both the Foundation and, if you will, the AAOMS side, and these are kind of sister organizations, looked and said, "You know, by combining our efforts, we might be able to do things more efficiently." So some of the things that we looked at was can we develop better programs? And we felt we could. Can we enhance our communications? Absolutely. I mean, the Foundation realize a lot now on AAOMS resources for their communications. Can we conduct more effective fundraising? Absolutely. We've been able to do that and We can show that by the number of dollars we've been able to bring in since then. Donor stewardship, so we now focus more on making sure that people who donate know that they're a part of the overall mission and not just somebody who wrote a check and then, you know, isn't going to be bothered by people asking them for money going forward. And eliminate redundancies, because there were some overlaps and redundancies. So we became a lot more efficient.

And probably the most important thing that we were able to do, if there's one single thing, was we hired a development professional who has really broadened and enhanced ability to connect with donors. This is a professional who knows how to interact in this sort of ways. And she's been a godsend when it comes to fundraising, stewardship and, really, the overall creation of an articulated message about what our mission and activities are. We kind of believe the more you know about us, the more you'll want to support us. And Mary DiCarlo has been the person that's really been the center of that.

Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, thank you for that. That's wonderful, and I just want to ask you now kind of about the state of the industry, where we are right now. So, what are the principle challenges facing the specialty right now?

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: So this is one of the things that I would think if you go back, people might say that the research we supported wasn't always viewed as being translational, that is it was going to make an immediate difference in people's practices. We've been very sensitive about, "Well, what do the individual grassroots folks feel like they need? And where are the challenges coming from?" And if there's one that you want to pick out of the group that we've identified, it's anesthesia safety. While OMS is, and the Foundation supports this belief, that the OMS model is a very safe model. That doesn't mean that everybody from the outside believes that. And so you have to be able to document and support that. And you also have to be able to identify ways that maybe improve what we're doing. So if I had to identify one thing, it would be anesthesia safety. And when we look at what our priorities are in funding projects, that's high at the list, top of the list.

Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, that's great. So then, how does the Foundation help to address those challenges?

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: Just to look and see what I'd mentioned a bit earlier about the University of Michigan's program where they're looking at anesthesia simulation and training and how that curriculum can be made effective in training of residents and, eventually, people in private practice. I mean, that's clearly one of the things that we specifically addressed to this anesthesia safety. While we do support basic science research, the emphasis is more clinical research, things that basically involve patient populations and effectiveness of treatments and various strategies that would allow us hopefully going forward to be able to answer those questions and improve the safety record.

Bill Klaproth (host): Right. So you've identified, you know, one of the principle challenges as you mentioned, anesthesia safety. What are the obstacles then that are getting in the way of accomplishing that mission?

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: I think more than anything, it's resources. So it really kind of comes down to the more resources we have and primarily that's measured in dollars. The more projects we can identify and fund that lead to the kind of support for the specialty that we believe is important.

Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. So, why should then today's OMS care whether the Foundation succeeds?

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: I think maybe looking at it from over a more global perspective. And that is that being in a profession is more than having a job. So when you become a part of a profession, you commit to helping this specialty grow and to thrive.

To some degree, this reminds me of something that I've been talking about this meeting and that is there's a rugby team in New Zealand. And when you become part of this really impressive group, you take a pledge to leave the jersey in a better place. Well, we believe it's important that every one at the OMS, once you become a part of this specialty, you should take a similar pledge or commitment to lead the specialty in a better place. So we believe in order to do that, we can do things that that individual practitioner can. So the average clinician, the average private practice doc doesn't have time to be an educator or researcher. But by supporting us, they can indirectly support those important efforts.

Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. I think that's a great mission. What are other ways they can support its success then because it is beneficial?

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: So, while we do have people on our board of directors that come from the community of surgeons out there, the best way for most folks is again through money and probably while there are sort of the check boxes, you can become a member, which is relatively a small contribution and many people do that on an annual basis, and we're grateful for that. But probably the two better ways or the two more effective ways for us in terms of their impact, one is what's called the OMSFIRE, which is a convenient high impact tax deductible way to make an ongoing contribution. Typically, it's a five-year commitment. And so that means that we know, when we're looking at our balance sheets, we have certain dollars coming in. And then, there's also the Legacy Giving approach, what we call the Walker Society approach. What that basically means is there's no impact on your day-to-day income or cashflow. But at the time when you pass away, these dollars will be part of your will, if you will, would come our way. And that gives us, again, some long-term dollars and can be more significant contributions to the society.

Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. Well, this has really been interesting, Dr. Rafetto. Thank you so much for your time. As we wrap up talking about who needs the OMS Foundation, any final thoughts?

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: I just think that we provide a way for folks to make a difference in the future. You know, in a sense, sometimes, we plant seeds of trees that we never get to see their fruit of. But we believe that we provide people the opportunity to plant the seeds that not only will provide things that enhance the specialty's ability to practice and provide care to patients effectively, not just short term, not only next year or the year before, but long-term as well.

Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for your time, Dr. Rafetto. We really appreciate that.

Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, MEd: Thank you.

Bill Klaproth (host): That is Dr. Louis Rafetto. And for more information and the full podcast library, please visit AAOMS.org. That's A-A-O-M-S.org. And if you enjoyed this podcast, please share it on your social media. And be sure to subscribe, so you don't miss an episode. Thanks for listening.