I haven’t posted anything in like almost 3 weeks and I am sorry for my laziness. I came home for a few days after 6 months being incredibly busy then took some time off clinic again to attend the ADA annual meeting in Hawaii. Hawaii! Yes, yes, I know. I am writing this while being at the paradise. These days sitting at the Waikiki beach watching the sunset, I am so grateful for being where I am and who I am right now. For all of you who follow my journey, I wish that you will always have a life full of choices.
Sunset at Waikiki beach
from Diamond Head lookout
Going back to our main conversation here – dentistry. Do you know that you can easily sign up to ADA as an international member then sign up for these meetings with that status? ADA annual meeting is open to dentists from all around the world. You will have to pay some fee to register for the meeting (about $115) but if you fail to have the visa to attend, they will return the fee (I’m not so sure about the deadline though). I registered for the meeting in Washington D.C in 2015 but decided not to go later and had no trouble getting the money back. The ADA also gave me an invitation letter to help with the visa interview and I think it is super awesome.
So is it worth to attend? Absolutely. With that small fee, you can attend so many free courses. Of course you have the option of paying for some expensive courses too. The whole meeting is normally about 3-4 days full of courses from $0, $25, $50 to $500. Pick wisely and you can attend 5-6 hours of lecture all 3-4 days for $0! What’s a better way to update yourself, network with other colleagues and have some great stories to tell in the interview day? As I said it multiple times, make your profile look better in every possible way you can, show schools that you really commit to dentistry. If you can’t afford to attend those post-doc courses (they are normally around $20k), can’t take 1 year off work for public health program or preceptorship program, then at least put in as much effort as possible to expose yourself to dentistry here in the U.S. If you have any more questions about the ADA meeting, please feel free to contact me. Hope to see you all next year at the meeting in San Francisco!
Then, how to register for the meeting. Now this I think you may have to apply to the ADA first as an international member (I am not so sure if you can register without being a member first). It is super easy to register to become an ADA member. When I did it years ago, I was like “what? That’s it?” All you need to do is to fill out a form, pay the fee ($100/year), send them the scan copy of your degree and done. They will contact you in two weeks after verifying your eligibility (which means you really graduate with DDS/DMD degree from a dental school). They then will mail you a certificate of the membership status. Within this one year you will have full access to their JADA journal online, other resources and of course the opportunity to attend the ADA meeting happening around September/ October every year.
Some information:
ADA FDI World Dental Congress 2019 – Sep 4-9 in San Francisco, CA
ADA 2020 – Oct 15-19 in Orlando, FL
ADA 2021 – Oct 11-15 Las Vegas, NV
ADA 2022 – Oct 13-17 Houston, TX
More information on how to join ADA as international members:
P.S. It's not that only ADA meetings count. As I've said, any effort to expose yourself to dentistry counts especially for those who are not practicing right now. There are a lot of dental conferences out there for you to choose. Choosing not only because you want to look good on your profile but because you genuinely love dentistry.
The exhibit hall at ADA meeting 2018
Me and my friend Dr. Rojas Lock at the New Dentist Reception