The American College of Dentists (ACD) is the oldest national honorary organization for dentists. Its members have exemplified excellence through outstanding leadership and exceptional contributions to dentistry and society. In response to serious problems facing the profession, the American College of Dentists was founded August 20, 1920, to elevate the standards of dentistry, to encourage graduate study, and to grant Fellowship to those who have done meritorious work. The American College of Dentists is nonprofit and apolitical, and has long been regarded as the "conscience of dentistry."

Our mission is to advance excellence, ethics, professionalism, and leadership in dentistry. The College has played a vital role in positively shaping the profession.

Recent developments include:

• Important—The College is gathering information to help improve dental practice, and we could use your help. If you are currently in practice, would you please take the anonymous Practice Values Inventory. It only takes a minute or two and it will provide us with very useful information.



• Courses Online Dental Ethics (CODE), our series of online ethics courses, now has seven courses, each providing complimentary continuing education credit. A recent course utilizes streaming video. Try it at www.dentalethics.org.



• The American College of Dentists Foundation has received a pledge of $50,000 from Dentsply International in support of Courses Online Dental Ethics (CODE), www.dentalethics.org. Our deepest appreciation is extened to Dentply International for this tangible commitment to ethics and professionalism.



• The Members Only section contains a variety of useful resources.



• Dental Leadership, our newest project, is now online (beta) at www.dentalleadership.org. This comprehensive leadership resources includes education, assessment, and library modules. Continuing education credit is available for courses in the education module. There are also self assessment leadership tools.



• A new, simplified, one-page nomination form is available to be used in conjunction with the nominee's curriculum vitae. Contact our Executive Office for more information.



• The Bylaws have been modified to reflect the creation of At Large Regents and the Sections Committee and the Code of Conduct has been modified to reflect the slightly expanded use of the abbreviation, F.A.C.D., after one's name.



• Should the Journal of the American College of Dentists be online or printed? If this subject interests you, please take our .

Explore our Web site and learn more about the American College of Dentists.

John M. Scarola
President