Greetings from Organized Dentistry
White Coat Ceremony
Dr. James Stephens
July 20, 2013
Thank you for your kind introduction, and thank you for inviting me to participate in the
2013 White Coat Ceremony. Good afternoon, on behalf of the California Dental
Association, I rise to commend you on reaching this milestone in your professional
development. Additionally, I would like to acknowledge your parents, family and friends
for the support and encouragement they have provided along the way. Your road to this
point has been long but they helped keep the wind at your back.
As a member of the Dugoni School of Dentistry, Class of 1982, I am very excited to be at
your White Coat Ceremony. “Back in the day,” there was no ceremony to mark this
important occasion, just the excitement we shared among ourselves in the days before we
hit the clinic. This celebration is appropriate because it elevates your transition to clinical
dental care to its proper significance.
The next step you take in your dental education is to apply the knowledge you have gained
in the laboratory and classroom to become a fine clinician. However, possibly the most
important transition will be the development of your professional self to internalize your
fundamental responsibility to put above all other considerations the best interests of your
patients.
You have chosen a career of service, a profession. Society accords professions elevated
status and the autonomy to educate and to participate in the oversight of the discipline.
We, as dental professionals, possess a unique body of knowledge that a layperson cannot
be expected to fully understand and evaluate. In return for the privilege to use our skill
and knowledge for our own betterment, we must act with integrity, caring for our fellow
human beings in a respectful, responsible and ethical manner.
In the clinics of Dugoni you will experience what it means to be a professional. You will
become part of a larger body, a member of a group of professionals that is the recognized
authority on oral heath, not just for your own patients, for the public as well. Own that
responsibility, whether you practice in Modoc County or at 450 Sutter, make it part of your
professional identity now. Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get,
we make a life by what we give.” You will certainly find personal fulfillment and success if
you maintain professionally committed to service.
The California Dental Association is committed to the success of our members in service to
their patients and the public. We are currently engaged with significant projects including:
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The Future of Dentistry
Dental Benefits and Finance
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Medical Dental Integration
International Dental Education Cooperation
Access to Care
Earlier this year as part of the effort to reduce barriers to care in California, many in your
dental school community volunteered at CDA Cares in San Jose. Nearly 200 students joined
with their fellow dental professionals to provide desperately needed care to more than
22 hundred individuals. In fact, I have seen students from Dugoni at all three CDA Cares,
and more than a few of them at every event. Thank you to all of those who were able to
help; we appreciate your professionalism, commitment and compassion.
On behalf of the California Dental Association, congratulations and welcome to clinical
dentistry and the Profession.
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