It’s 2016!! It is my hope and prayer that this will be a prosperous year for you. We look forward to continuing our relationship with you as well as beginning treatment with new referrals to MedCenter TMJ. It is an honor and pleasure to be able to serve you by helping alleviate pain and dysfunction. It is also our prayer that there will be healing in our nation. It seems that over the past several years we have grown apart as a nation, rather than being “united” as our name indicates. I am encouraged by the fact that I see more and more people becoming aware of the necessity for mending relationships and restoring friendships. This is a very important year for all of us as we will elect a new President. I encourage you to become actively attentive to the candidates. We must make informed decisions as we move this country toward a new era and new place in the world.
January will be a busy month for me and Dr. Pettit. We begin by having our first staff meeting on the 8th of January. This is an important meeting because I will introduce our new schedule for the coming year. Beginning in January, I will condense my work week to three days. I will be in the office on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, working full days. I will then take off Thursdays and Fridays. Dr. Pettit will cover those days in the office. I will use some of that time for pleasure but also Dr. Pettit and I have several projects that we are actively trying to complete. Because of lack of administrative time, I have not been able to accomplish these projects. Now that I will have more time off, I plan to be spending at least every other Thursday in the library. I have four or five articles which I would like to write and publish this year. This is my new goal for 2016.
On Friday, January 15th I will travel to New Orleans to meet with Dr. Henry Gremillion. Dr. Gremillion is a former student of mine who is now Dean of the Dental School at LSU. He is also a graduate of the Parker Mahan Orofacial Pain Program at the University of Florida, School of Dentistry. Dr. Gremillion and I have been friends from the first day that he entered dental school in 1973. He is very interested in starting an Orofacial Pain residency program at LSU’s Dental School and he has invited me to help initiate the program. My trip on January 15th will be to discuss my role in that process. I do not plan to move to New Orleans, but I would like to be actively involved in helping him get this program up and running.
February will also be a busy month, Dr. Pettit and I will travel to Chicago for the American Equilibration Society meeting. I am Program Chairman for the AES in 2017, so 2016 will be composed of many committee meetings as we complete our speaker confirmations for that program. My Co-Chair of this committee is Dr. Andy Miles from Trinidad. It has been fun to work with Andy on the program committee. The AES is an organization which has been around for over 75 years. I have been a member of this organization since 1980. It is one of my favorite societies to which I belong.
As you can see, Dr. Pettit and I continue to be actively involved in learning, studying, and writing in the field of Orofacial pain and TMD. It is my goal to train as many people as I can while I am still able to do so in order to carry on my work to the next generation. I will be giving a special dissection course on head and neck anatomy on March 11th and 12th here in Houston. So even though I may not be in the office as much as I have been in the past, I will still be actively involved. I plan to be around for as long as my health holds up and I am able to provide the quality of service that you, our patient, deserves. You are our greatest asset and we will continue to strive to provide you the best care in the nation as we seek to alleviate your pain and dysfunction.
Sincerely,
Ronald C. Auvenshine, DDS, PhD
Diplomate, American Board of Orofacial Pain