| Add RSS Feed

October 16, 2007

It is simultaneously sad and exciting to announce that with this current issue, we are stepping down as the editors of Grand Rounds in Oral-Systemic Medicine™. This was a hard decision for all 3 of us; however, we believe that without buy-in from the medical community, the potential of oral-systemic medicine may never be realized, and consequently the opportunity to provide optimal care to the public we serve will be significantly compromised. Indeed, we can continue to preach within the dental community about the threat that oral diseases and conditions pose for systemic health, yet without strategic approaches to knowledge diffusion within the medical community, the obstacles to adoption of oral-systemic medicine will never be overcome. After carefully considering these challenges to integration, we decided that the greatest contribution we can make is to build awareness of oral-systemic science within the medical profession and provide a framework for developing collaborative, transdisciplinary models of research, education/training, and patient care. It is to this end that the 3 of us have determined to move beyond dentistry to concentrate our energy and professional goals on the medical integration of oral-systemic science.

According to a number of metrics, Grand Rounds became one of the most successful publications of its time. With its inaugural issue launched in February 2006, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the national association that represents nearly 1,300 health insurance companies, adopted Grand Rounds as an exclusive source of credible information regarding oral-systemic health for its membership. Various articles appearing in Grand Rounds have been posted continuously on their dental portal at http://www.healthdecisions.org/Dental/. There have been countless dental schools, periodontal graduate programs and dental hygiene programs that have made Grand Rounds required reading. Grand Rounds has been widely received within the community of private practitioners, including the use of the journal for continuing education in private study clubs and large practice management organizations; the use of novel information contained in the “Tools for Implementation” section for patient education and dentist-physician communications; and the use of the journal in dentists’ and physicians’ presentations within hospital grand rounds settings. After only 6 issues, readership requests for digital subscriptions surpassed any other publication within the PennWell family.

To be sure, these are wonderful successes. However, we believe that with this issue of Grand Rounds comes an excellent opportunity for the 3 of us to continue our vision in other media. We are grateful to Lyle Hoyt, Senior Vice President and Group Publisher, and to Craig Dickson, Publisher, for understanding the importance of oral-systemic medicine, and for their vote of confidence in our ability to create Grand Rounds. In addition, without the guidance of such a dedicated and insightful advisory board, and the very gifted authors who contributed such credible and compelling editorial, this journal would not have achieved the level of success that became a new benchmark in professional journalism. Last, but certainly not least, we want to thank our readership for such great loyalty and for sharing the vision we have to advance the understanding of oral-systemic medicine and its appropriate integration into the clinical practice of mainstream dentistry and medicine. We look forward to hearing from you.

Our thanks to Dr. Jon Suzuki for serving as the academic anchor of this issue of Grand Rounds and to all the other authors who contributed such excellent editorial.

Sincerely yours,

Casey Hein, BSDH, MBA
Chief Editor
caseyh@pennwell.com

Anthony Iacopino, DMD, PhD
Associate Editor
iacopino@cc.umanitoba.ca

Charles Cobb, DDS, PhD
Editor Emeritus
cobbc@umkc.edu

| Add RSS Feed