President’s Message
by Peter M. Tufton, D.D.S. – NODA President
There was no fooling around with the start of April for NODA members. The Louisiana Dental Association House of Delegates met on April 6th at the Renaissance Hotel in Baton Rouge. Thanks to the President-Elect Dr. Byron Ganucheau for securing the required number of delegates and to all NODA members who responded to his invitation.
First time delegate, Dr. Craig Marcello, led the fight against an increase in dues for retired life membership. After much discussion, the increase was defeated. We were fortunate to have Dr. Jeffery Cole, President of the American Dental Association address the meeting. It was a great opportunity for the attendees to meet with him. The night before the meeting, a joint banquet of the fellows of the American College of Dentistry and the International College of Dentistry was held at Mansur Restaurant.
The next day, NODA member Dr. Kristi Soileau was installed as the second woman to become President of the LDA in 141 years. She has been active in local, state, and national levels since graduating from dental school. She has a passion for organized dentistry. Under her leadership, dentistry has a bright future in the state of Louisiana.
Dean and Mrs. Henry Gremillion hosted a reception on April 11th honoring the graduating class of 2019 from LSU School of Dentistry at the Balcony in Metairie. It was a great opportunity to meet future NODA members.
The event that we all look forward to is the Annual Crawfish Boil at Southport Hall. It was a great success thanks to our President-Elect Dr. Byron Ganucheau and Dr. Kevin Collins, Chairman of NODE. This event is made possible because of our generous sponsors NODE, Henry Schein, Selser Dental Lab, Brown and Brown, and Hancock Whitney. The crawfish boil is always a great way for Doctors and staff to socialize and further better relationships.
Dentists’ Day at the Legislature was held on April 24th. NODA members and LSUSD students made the trip. Dentist Day offers dentist the opportunity to meet their lawmakers and express their views on topics that affect their profession. A reception for dentist, guest and legislators was held at Pentagon Barracks.
See you at the New Orleans Dental Conference/LDA Annual Session on May 9-11 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and the LDA Summer Conference June 19-22, 2019 at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort.
