In just a few days after you receive this issue of JOMS, many of us will meet again at the AAOMS annual meeting which takes place October 3-6, 2006, in San Diego. While it is obvious that the AAOMS annual meeting is a unique opportunity for oral and maxillofacial surgeons to build our knowledge and skills, it is also one of the best means to affirm our professional identity, gain perspective on our own practices, and to enjoy the company of those who share our life’s experiences.
The AAOMS annual meeting is an impressive perk of membership. It is critical to our individual success and the advancement of our specialty. The annual meeting is an essential component in the progress of oral and maxillofacial surgery, in that it propels continuing education, advocacy, communication, and the advancement of our specialty.
As an AAOMS member, I gain from these invaluable features of the AAOMS annual meeting:
1.Continuing education: The annual meeting is a chance to synthesize your knowledge after a year of journal and text reading and local CE events. It provides a national perspective on advancements in patient care. The huge range of CE choices allows surgeons to personalize their CE selections to meet their lifelong learning goals.
2.Advocacy for oral and maxillofacial health and the success of oral and maxillofacial surgeons occurs in the business meetings, including reference committees and house of delegates.
3.Communication of the advances of our specialty and the services we provide. Through press releases and meetings with the surgical community and opinion leaders, oral and maxillofacial surgery becomes recognized as a leader in surgery.
4.Advancement of the art, science and practice of our specialty: Clinical and scientific advances are tested at the annual meeting as presenters meet the rigor of their colleagues. New surgical techniques or new scientific hypotheses are tested in the associated presentations, panel discussions, and Q & A that follow. What will be new and exciting in the coming years of clinical practice is often determined at the AAOMS annual meeting.
All of these features are accomplished best (perhaps due to the critical mass of the event), at the AAOMS annual meeting. Let me tell you why the annual meeting is essential for your progress as a surgeon, as the joys of the AAOMS annual meeting are detailed. In addition, these personal perspectives might help you to have some fun as well. Let me be your tour guide to a few of the not to be missed annual meeting experiences.
Our Greatest Secret and Best Entertainment Value: The Abstract and Poster Sessions
Years before a sane surgeon would perform a maxillary downfracture (the biologic basis of maxillofacial osteotomies not having been presented in peer-reviewed literature), before bone-forming methods were shown to sometimes destroy the structures meant to be enhanced, before surgeons beyond readers of a little known journal among OMS (Southern Medicine) knew what an internal derangement was, when surgeons thought PRP was the initials of a communist country, cutting edge advances in clinical science were presented in the Abstract and Poster Sessions. Those types of advances will assuredly be presented in San Diego if detected by the rational and willing ear
…you.
In years past, 500 to 1,000 surgeons filled the abstract sessions on temporomandibular disorders, orthognathic surgery, and reconstruction. Debates from the floor and the pointed questioning of expert panelists were often enough to make presenters quiver. The poster sessions resembled a stock trading floor, packed with groups of surgeons in spirited debate. The controversy of discovery was in the air at these events.
Unfortunately, abstracts are today presented in often barely attended rooms but the rigor and excitement of these sessions has not waned. I urge you to find the abstract session of your choice so that we can together discover the future of surgery and reinvigorate the impact that the abstract sessions have on our specialty.
Dissecting the Brain of an Expert: The Mini-Lectures and Clinics
An expert, it has been said, is someone who learns more and more about less and less until they know absolutely everything about nothing. When you need exceptional up-to-date information on a focused subject, the mini-lecture is for you. The presenter knows that their participants are often as well experienced clinicians in the area of discussion, so that the clinical pearls to be obtained in these clinics are often exceptional.
Showtime for Conventional Wisdom: The Symposia
Symposia presenters must imagine, “What would I say on this subject if I knew just about everybody would be listening?” The symposia can often feel too broad, too conventional, and lack the intensity of the smaller sessions, yet they have emerged in recent years as the forum in which standard, comprehensive knowledge is presented. The symposia allow the participant to summarize and synthesize contemporary clinical knowledge. Curiously, the room often begins to empty during the questions, when the “wisdom” of conventional wisdom is often challenged.
The Surgical Souk: The Exhibit Hall
Like the merchants of rugs and gold of the Arabian souk, the exhibitors are lined up, elbows resting on their wares, and a sharp eye out for potential customers. Our vendors are truly our partners in the delivery of care. Listening to their pitch when combined with our scientific expertise and clinical experience can be a powerful tool in the advancement of our practice. You may be as likely to experience the eureka of discovery in the exhibit hall, test driving a new device, as you will in the darkened lecture rooms.
Mainstreet OMS: The Corridors
Are you using those new nitrous oxide detectors? How did your staff react? I just can’t seem to make those abutments work for me. How about you? Can you show me at the booth? Is our governor ready to talk turkey on this issue? How did you get your patient’s carrier to understand? How’s the fishin’ been? The old program isn’t what it used to be. Have you seen Bill? He looks great.
OK I admit it. The most fun is in the corridors. A 5 minute walk between sessions usually takes 20 minutes as old acquaintances are reacquainted. This is not wasted time. It is probably the single most important aspect of the meeting. Enjoy it. You will learn more from your peers than from any experts.
Be There
Surprisingly, in this era of easy and inexpensive travel, the attendance at the AAOMS annual meeting has only grown modestly in recent years. As a percentage of membership, attendance is lower now than it was decades ago. The packed intensity of scientific expression has softened.
The annual meeting is developed through the hard work of expert staff and volunteers serving on AAOMS committees. Presenters have prepared, often obsessively, to properly communicate what is likely their life’s work. Thanks to AAOMS staff and member volunteers, this year’s meeting in San Diego is bound to be our best ever, and it is all being prepared for you.
Be there. Look for me. I’ll be the one talking in the corridor overlooking the Pacific.
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