Editor’s Note: Growing Strong

Growth is an important concept in dentistry and dental hygiene. It creates new treatments, better trained clinicians, and furthers the oral health of this country. The stories we feature in Dimensions are based on the growth created by the top researchers and educators through their diligent study. Also during the past year and a half, Dimensions of Dental Hygiene has experienced continuous growth.

I am pleased and excited to announce the newest addition to the Dimensions of Dental Hygiene team. We are proud to welcome Jill Rethman, RDH, BA, to our staff as editorial director. I will continue as editor in chief and I look forward to working closely with Jill as she reviews articles and provides editorial support to our team.

Jill has more than 25 years of experience in the dental hygiene field with a highly respected background in publishing. She is a consultant to the dental industry, creating educational programs, and a speaker both in the United States and abroad, lecturing on a variety of dental hygiene topics including periodontal therapy, geriatric patient consideration, and patient motivation and communication. An accomplished author, she has been published in the Journal of Practical Periodontics and Aesthetic Dentistry and Dentistry Today while also contributing a chapter on dental hygiene diagnosis and evidence-based treatment for the textbook Comprehensive Periodontics for the Dental Hygienist. She was recently appointed to the American Academy of Periodontology’s Task Force on Dental Hygiene Education and is a consultant to the American Dental Association’s Council on Dental Practice. In addition, she is a visiting clinical instructor of Dental Hygiene at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine and is a featured speaker for the American Dental Association’s Seminar Series.

Jill’s husband, Michael Rethman, DDS, MS, is the current president of the American Academy of Periodontology and has been a Dimensions of Dental Hygiene editorial board member since our beginning. I have known and admired both Jill and Mike Rethman professionally for many years. Their tireless efforts have resulted in a strengthening of the ties between the American Academy of Periodontology and the dental hygiene profession. Their dedicated support of dental hygiene over the years has contributed significantly to the growth of our field. Likewise, we are confident that their valuable support will contribute significantly to the growth of Dimensions of Dental Hygiene.

We are thrilled to have Jill join us and you will be hearing from her soon. Feel free to drop her an email at jrethman@belmontpublications.com. We look forward to further growth in the future and we will use you as our guides. Please keep your comments and suggestions coming!

—Anna M. Pattison, RDH, MS
apattison@belmontpublications.com