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The MDA Annual Awards of Dentist of the Year, Outstanding New Dental Leader and Distinguished Service honor individual dentist members for their contributions to the dental profession and their communities.


Dentist of t Year Dr. Guy Deyton


This award recognizes a member who has demonstrated outstanding service to the dental profession and/or in his or her community in the past year.


D


r. Deyton (UMKC 84) was chosen, in particular, for his outstanding service


to bring COVID-19 vaccinations to the dental and pharmacy com- munity in Kansas City in February and March 2021. At this time, many healthcare workers, especially those in dentistry, had difficulty finding a place to be vaccinated because they were not affiliated with a hospital system. His efforts helped ensure dentists and their teams could continue to provide care for patients in a safe manner. Following this event, due to his past and current leadership, Dr. Deyton was invited to become a candidate for Dental Director for the State of Missouri, a position becoming vacant, and took the reins in March. In this position his leadership continues to move forward the efforts of the Office of Dental Health within the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Dr. Deyton is an MDA Past-President (2002-03) and received the Dentist of the Year Award in 1999 for his efforts to launch the Missouri Expanded Functions Dental Assisting program. From 2008-11 he was co-director for the MDA Leadership Development Continuum and from 2010-15, director of its Young Dentist Study Club. He is a life member of the ADA, MDA and the Greater Kansas City Dental Society. He is a member of several other dental organizations, where he has held various leadership positions and received numerous accolades in his long and distinguished career. He and his wife, JoAnne Snyder, reside in Kansas City.


You are being acknowledged as Dentist of the Year primarily for your efforts to bring COVID-19 vaccinations to the dental and pharmacy community in Kansas City in February and March 2021, when it was particularly difficult to access those. We know a lot of things have changed related to COVID-19 since that time and continue to do so. What do you feel is the current state of the dental community—in terms of morale and dealing with the continued effects of the pandemic. I am extremely impressed with the oral health community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dentists have been in constant communication so they could know how to safely care for their patients while safeguarding the wellbeing of their staff. Vaccination rates for dentists


34 focus | NOV/DEC 2021 | ISSUE 6


and hygienists are higher than our medical counterparts in hospitals, medical facilities and nursing homes.


Shortly after you helped coordinate the vaccine clinic, the State Dental Director position became vacant and you stepped into that role. What has surprised you most about this position? What have you enjoyed most; what programs, initiatives and day-to-day activities give you the most satisfaction? And, too, what are the challenges you’ve encountered to help the state of Missouri achieve good oral health?My biggest surprise on assuming the state dental director role was how little my public health colleagues knew about oral health and the oral-systemic connection. Therefore, my greatest satisfaction is taking advantage of every opportunity to speak to local public health agencies, health centers and decision makers in the Department of Health about oral health and its place in the array of public health services.


You’ve done so much—served on the Dental Board, are a past MDA president and now, State Dental Director, plus you still spend some time seeing patients in your practice! Not to mention so many mentoring and leadership roles in between. With such a wealth of knowledge and experiences in your background, what comes to your mind as the most immediate challenges and opportunities for the future of the profession? This is a “you’re-old-enough-to-have-seen-a-lot question”, so it’s difficult to avoid coming off like an old fart! None-the-less, here is my answer: The biggest challenge is change, the increasing rate of change and not being afraid of change. As comforting and predictable as it is to keep doing things the same way, the one thing that the COVID pandemic has taught us is the world won’t allow us to keep doing things the same way. Dentistry is going to change rapidly due to technology, workforce issues and access to care issues. In my opinion, the best way to manage change is to create it ourselves, rather than resisting it and being swept along by outside forces.


Of all your current activities—dental, civic, personal—is there something you are particularly excited to be part of?My personal motto I adopted 36 years ago at an applied strategic planning workshop is: “Making life better, one person at a time.” So my greatest satisfaction comes when I can make someone smile and make their day a little better.


Tell us about yourself outside of dentistry … family, hobbies, favorite way to spend free time, what recharges you outside the work of your practice and serving as State Dental Director? Those who know me know I am a research fanatic. I love learning and bouncing from one project to another. I also love solving physical or mechanical problems.


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