Jette J Holbrook steps down as Chair of BSOS
Report from Chair – BSOS AGM – Friday 7th September 2018
Once upon a time there was a young dental student who was taught about bite physiology and found it somewhat dull even as she was being educated in the happiest country in the world.
As she settled into her job in England in July 1984 she soon forgot all about occlusion as she was sucked into doing piecemeal dentistry and found that was fun for a while. But reality set in, the NHS was a hard taskmaster and the dentistry did not always work out. In November 1994 her life changed. She was introduced to Roy Higson, Occlusion and BSOS and life in dentistry looked up.
You will have worked out that person was me!
Some years later I was given the opportunity to join the BSOS committee and then handed the reins just as Roy retired! It has been an eventful time taking over as Roy left: the lull in education he used to provide and therefore the lack of new members, the impact of social media over the last decade, the demanding changes in the NHS with the introduction of UDAs, care Quality Commission etc. having us all concentrate on the administration of dentistry and very little time or monies for post-graduate dental learning. It has been hard work, demanding, fun and enriching & I have found and still find this organisation to be an amazing group to belong to, full of people with passion, fabulous personalities and thankfully small egos! The knowledge we bring to dentistry as we acquire our occlusal insights and skills is in huge demand, as you all know, in a dental world where occlusal disease flourish and patients are met by practitioners who are frankly clueless when it comes to occlusal disease.
It has indeed been one of my professional life’s honours to be Chair of BSOS.
When I first started in BSOS I was supported by Roy, Peter Watson, John Hyde, Andy Lane, John Bassett and all our American colleagues and during the last years that support has continued from all of you as we have met over the years at various courses. More recently Paul McLornan, Paul Durham, Jose de la Hoz have taught us but we have also had the please in the recent years of listening to John Cranham, John Kois, Jeff Rouse, Bo Bruce & David Newkirk in their double act, Tara Renton, Ambra Michelotti, Prof StJohn Crean, Pascal Magne, Brian Nový, Basil Mizrahi, Ken Peters, Dan Selner, Terry Donavan, Michael Gunson, Jeff Okeson, Henry Gremillion, Gerard Chiché, Per Alstergren and this weekend Michael Melkers before our next course in Ireland in June next year with Jason Smithson. I feel very proud of our committee and the line of delightful, world-class passionate speakers we have been able to secure for BSOS. If you are not yet a member I urge you to join us and learn along with the rest of us.
As you all know, when Roy retired those of us who had been involved with Roy and teaching were concerned how BSOS would survive without the ingress of new delegates and colleagues. As you also know, we all agreed to try to run courses in occlusion under the umbrella of BSOS. We offered our first 3-day weekend in 2012 and shortly after the hands on courses too. The 3-day meeting has now found its new home in Birmingham, the second weekend in January with the atmosphere of learning and fun nicely transferred from Mansfield.
The courses get great feed back but it is a continuous worry to get delegates on the courses and to make the finances stack up. BSOS has invested heavily in this area and it is my fervent hope it will pay off. We need to continue to promote BSOS and our courses and we would love to involve all of you who teach occlusion in some capacity of other to give out our 3 day leaflets to help feed the numbers. We ideally need 30 delegates to afford the input from our American colleagues from IPSO.
Please do recommend the courses to your colleagues.
The BSOS committee has worked really hard again this year including Hannah Blay our secretary based at Kendrick View Practice in Reading.
Our biggest challenge has been our website and the new data regulations. We will continue to work in this area and to expand our presence in social media. We feel we do not communicate as well as possible and would like to improve not least to make sure you all know when the meetings are!
My last year as Chair has been so much easier as I have co-chaired with Alison O’Donnell. We have had numerous FaceTime meetings during the year and it has been an absolute pleasure to work with her. She is kind, funny, able, organised and passionate about BSOS and I know she will be an amazing Chair with lots of enthusiasm and drive as she has already demonstrated to us. Please do extend your support and graciousness to her as you have to me over the years.
On a personal note, I shall miss being Chair of BSOS but it is time for me to hand over even if I remain on the committee and passionate about BSOS!
Steven & I have now sold our practice in York allowing Steven to retire fully and me to work as a part-time associate in our old practice with Shash & Smriti Bhakta, which is working out really well. I am clearly not done with teeth!.
I have also started to serve on the board of AES as a director for a 4-year term like Mark Hargreaves did and in that vein I commend the 2019 AES meeting in February in Chicago to you. The line-up of speakers is legendary with Pete Dawson topping the bill, closely followed by Henry Gremillion, Jeff Okeson and John Cranham. If you ever thought about going, then next year is your best opportunity.
So as I sit down, I thank you all again for having had this opportunity to be Chair of BSOS.
Jette J Holbrook.