Leaving Las Vegas

This time, hopefully, what happened in Vegas won't stay in Vegas.

I'm just wrapping up my visit to the Townie Meeting, which drew about 1,000 dentists and their team members to the entirely over-the-top Paris Hotel and Casino on the Vegas Strip, and I am, in a word, exhausted. But in a good way.

Rarely have I seen such an enthusiastic group at a dental event. In a field jam packed with shows and CE events, there's something about the Townie Meeting that just feels good. It's probably the fact that this is a community that has grown organically, with members drawn by the very human desire to interact with their peers. While most other meetings remain mired in tradition, stuffiness and politics, the Townies take over their meeting, casting off whatever doesn't work, building on what does, and owning the whole experience.

It epitomizes a trend I've witnessed in my eight years in dentistry: first with the Academy of General Dentistry, then as Editorial Director of Dental Products Report, Dental Practice Report and Modern Hygienist, and now as Editorial Director of Dentalcompare.com. It's a trend away from big, organized dentistry, where dentists feel they should belong, and towards smaller groups of like-minded professionals, where they want to belong.

In many ways, this trend has been sparked by the Internet, a tool whose greatest strength lay in its facility to connect people who share the same interests. The Townie Meeting is the outgrowth of people who for the most part met online and got to know each other by sharing ideas. Today, Dental Town is a thriving online community and a thriving real community. And that's very good for dentistry, where traditionally dentists have viewed each other more as competitors than colleagues.

Discussions throughout the three-day event focused on improving dentistry for the betterment of patients, dentists and their staff. And it wasn't just between dentists. Many of the top dental manufacturing companies were in attendance to support the group. In a profession where manufacturer research and development drives the major advances in treatment, it is refreshing to see dentists and manufacturers sharing ideas.

Community is a wonderful and necessary thing. To see it bloom in the desert was awesome. My wish is that everyone in attendance carries it back home. This is one thing that shouldn't stay in Vegas.