Dr Hall,
\nJust wanted to let you know I referenced you when writing for a website.<\/p>\n
I had a related question. It has been very difficult getting certain information regarding the early AACD accredited dentists and so it makes me feel that there is something to hide. My respect for you is considerable and that’s why I hope you will be forthright with me on this. I wanted to find out if the early doctors were conferred accreditation without much ado. It’s happened before and with other new organizations, such as the fellowship I received, but I think it would be better to be up front about stating that the founders became accredited without examinations and case submission rather than be untruthful.<\/p>\n
Kindest Regards,
\nA cosmetic dentist in Chicago<\/p>\n
Dear —
\nThank you for your kind words.<\/p>\n
I was there in Toronto in 1986 when the AACD first announced the accreditation program. The first dentists accredited didn’t have to pass an exam, because there was no accreditation committee – they had to start somewhere. So there was some agreement that certain of the charter members were skilled enough, and there wasn’t any exam anyway, because there was no one recognized to examine the others. Jack Kammer, the founder, Michael Miller, the first accreditation chair, and others were accredited by being “drafted” so to speak. Those dentists then set up the examination protocol and formed a committee to judge the skills of dentists who wanted to become accredited.<\/p>\n
For a while after that, to be able to get recognized authorities and lecturers accredited and help establish the credential, there were dentists who were given accreditation “by lecture.” Their lectures were well known and the work they displayed was of recognized quality, so they were granted accreditation without an exam.<\/p>\n
I have heard rumors or grumblings, if you will, that some of the very first dentists accredited in this way\u00a0didn’t have work that was of good enough quality to pass the exam. I have no direct knowledge of that happening with any dentist nor have I seen work from an accredited cosmetic dentist that looked substandard. Nor am I aware of any attempt to gloss over the early history of accreditation. But I do know that once the examination process got established, there were measures taken to tighten up the process and there was much grumbling that the exam was too hard. The failure rate was about 2\/3 for a while, and those in charge of accreditation would not budge as far as making it easier. Instead, their answer was to bolster the education and preparation process, and\u00a0to add mentors to help\u00a0to bring the dentists up to a certain level of excellence. I know from going through the accreditation process even in the early days (I was among the first 40 dentists to become accredited, having started the accreditation process only one year after\u00a0the path to accreditation\u00a0was announced) that it was very demanding. I felt as though I had done a masters thesis. It required a great deal of focus, self-criticism, and re-doing of cases before I felt that I had cases that would meet the approval of the committee. And even then I had one case I thought was good enough, but I had used a material that didn’t take a polish well. This wasn’t good enough for them, and I had to resurface it with another material\u00a0and polish it to a perfect sheen\u00a0in order\u00a0to bring it up to their standards. The questioning was tough, and there were dentists who did quite nice work who failed.<\/p>\n
– Dr. Hall<\/p>\n