Merry Christmas

A wonderful thing happened at the California Dental Association (CDA) meeting in San Francisco this September. At the Presidential Reception on Saturday night, Dr. Daniel Miyasaki was honored for his years of dedicated service to advancing the level of clinical excellence and the quality of dental meetings as a member of the Board of Managers, Scientific Sessions. He was introduced by his good friend, Dr. Dennis Shinbori.

Dr. Daniel Miyasaki

In the words of Dr. Shinbori, “When Carol asked me to introduce Dr. Dan Miyasaki, I was so thrilled and honored. I have known Dan for the entire 18 years he served on the Council on Scientific Sessions, and now the Board of Managers. He is very deserving of this honor tonight. Dan has mentored many board members (giving tips on scouting or planning a program or predicting a room size), and he has launched the careers of many nationally known speakers, some of whom are here tonight. He is known and respected throughout the dental meeting planning world. When I would scout another dental meeting, no matter where in the country this meeting would be, someone would ask, ‘How is Dr. Miyasaki and is he coming?’ When I would tell them he would not be joining me, they would all tell me what a great guy he was and an inspiration to meeting planning. He is the meeting planners’ meeting planner. Dan has represented CDA well.

“Above all, he is a great husband, father, and grandfather. Dan is joined tonight by his lovely wife, Bev; his two daughters, Nancy and Susan; and his son, Michael. And he has 10 grandchildren. He has excelled in all of his hobbies: skiing, fishing (he invented and sold his own lure for fly fishing), hunting, golf, and even dancing. He is really light on his feet.

“Of course, Bev makes him look good. They could enter ‘Dancing with the Stars!’ I don’t know when he found time to do dentistry. He is a graduate of Loyola Dental School in Chicago.

“Dan, you will always be the life of the party. It is an honor to be up here with you tonight. Thank you for everything, from me, the Board, the staff, and everyone here.”

I have my own story to tell. When I first got the job as editor of Dental Economics®, I began to do some speaking. I had done several short presentations on the Hinman’s Saturday afternoon New Speakers program. An old friend, Dr. Hugh Doherty, introduced me to Dan at a major meeting and told him that he should hire me for the CDA meeting. Dan took a chance on me, and did hire me for a CDA meeting. He apparently liked what he saw because he began to tell other meeting planners to hire me. That was the beginning of my successful career as a dental speaker. Thanks, Dan, for taking that chance on me. You are the best!

In today’s world, it seems that everyone is trying to take God out of our lives! We have taken prayer out of our schools, there is no prayer on the sports fields, and they are trying to remove God from our coins and currency, Pledge of Allegiance, and government buildings, and are trying to remove Christ from Christmas. Happy holidays — Bah, humbug! I wish you a Merry Christmas with a capital C.

The season to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago in a stable in Bethlehem is upon us. Join with your family and friends in this holy season, and pray that everyone may find God in their lives and honor Him as our Lord and Savior as the founders of our country did. May the blessings of this glorious season be with you and yours now and throughout the New Year!

Joe Blaes, DDS, Editor — e–mail: [email protected]
Toll–free phone number: (866) 274–4500