After a recommendation from Angela, I attended my first American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD) conference in Toronto three years ago and ever since I had been itching to get back to another conference. This year I was fortunate to attend the AACD conference in San Diego shortly after Easter.
The AACD conference always starts with a welcoming reception. This year the welcoming reception was held on the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier which has now been set-up as a museum. Attendees got to enjoy dinner and drinks on the top deck of the carrier. My favourite part was the tours of the lower levels of the ship where we got to see the medical and dental areas. In my group was a dental technician who had actually worked as a dental assistant on the ship when the USS Midway was operational and stationed in Japan. For him the tour brought back nostalgic memories and for me it definitely made me appreciate the space and sunshine we are lucky to have at our Victoria Street practice, compared to the cramped conditions on the ship.
Upper deck of the USS Midway 
Dental area in the lower decks
The following days of the conference were made up of motivation lectures (which left inspired to run a marathon!), dental lectures and hands-on workshops provided by some of the best dentists in the world. To get into a hands-on workshop you need to be pretty fast with your registration and I managed to get into three. The first workshop was on ceramic veneer techniques where I learnt to streamline my preparation techniques. I then attended a workshop on masking a very difficult dark tooth with composite resin and finally a workshop on composite resin for back/posterior teeth. On the final day of the conference we got to listen to Pascal Magne who is a professor at the University of Southern California and one of the leading dentists in the world for new techniques.
Veneer preparation workshop
There are a few reasons I look forward to going to the AACD conference other than just the dental learning itself. Being able to have a small holiday is nice, this time around Cody and I spent a few days in San Francisco over Easter before heading to San Diego. I also really enjoy being able to meet other dentists from the USA and also around the world which can create great friendships. Some dentists attending the AACD conference are being recognised for many hours and years of hard work to cosmetic dentistry and as they get their awards, even if you don’t know them, you feel super proud!
Sally with Brooklin Byrd , Memphis USA and Keiichi Hosaka, Japan
