Impressions
New Year, New You! by Dr. Stephen T. Radack III, Editor
Happy 2026! By the time you read this first issue of the PDJ this new year, we will be well into January. I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday season and are ready to seize the new year.
I know at our house we had a great time, as both of our daughters and their families came home – it was a full house of 11 people and one dog! We were blessed to have them home and grateful that the weather cooperated for their travels of 12 and 6 hours. It was amazing that there was no snow impacting their trips home to Erie. Soon after their arrival, it promptly snowed every day while they were home, but then it stopped so their return trips were uneventful.
As we look forward to the next 12 months, we all have an opportunity to start fresh and make the best of ourselves and our practices. Some may have made a few resolutions they hope to keep. Some of us start the year with a dry January, especially after a busy holiday season. Some vow to exercise more, get fit, eat better and maybe vow to drop a few pounds. At the office, we may add some new services to provide for our patients. It seems the most popular these days are offering clear aligners for minor ortho treatment, implants or even some type of cosmetic services such as Botox or fillers. We may also plan to take more continuing education classes to keep our skills sharp and learn new ways to do old things.
Something else we may want to consider are all of the opportunities your PDA has to come together for both CE and fun in very different settings. As I write this, the Leadership Conference at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Somerset is just a couple weeks away. For winter enthusiasts it will be a great opportunity to get your snow fix on, learn and enjoy the fellowship of your colleagues from around the state.
In April, you can travel to the Omni Beford Springs Resort & Spa for Pennsylvania’ s Dental Meeting. If you haven’ t been to our annual meeting in a while this would be a great year to attend, stay and play at this historic AAA Four Diamond-rated resort. As I wrote about after last year’ s meeting, there is always so much to do between CE, food, fellowship and hearing from our PDA leaders.
If you want to spend a couple days volunteering your time, there is the PDA Foundation’ s MOM-n-PA dental mission May 29-30 at the Agri-Plex at the Allentown Fairgrounds. For those of us who have volunteered at the mission in the past, it is truly one of the most rewarding professional experiences you can have and you will never meet more grateful patients!
The highlight of the summer will once again be PDA’ s Family Vacation Dental Conference. What a great opportunity to bring your entire family to this waterfront resort in Cambridge, Md. The Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort Spa and Marina has something for everyone in your family and you can get some continuing education at the same time. This can’ t miss event will be July 16-18 and has grown every year.
As you can see, there are so many opportunities in this new year to join your PDA colleagues to learn, have fun and network … and that only takes us through July!
My hope is that the new you for 2026 will be more engaged in all PDA has to offer every day. If you haven’ t done it yet, take the time to download the PDA Go app to your phone. This is the premier dental association app and has anything PDA you need. Almost every day I get a notification that something new and important has been posted to the app’ s news feed. PDA Go is also the way to make sure you have not missed anything in your email inbox. There is also a desktop version of the app for those who would rather see the information on a larger screen!
I follow PDA on Facebook, Instagram, X( formerly Twitter), YouTube and LinkedIn. Our communications team has new content almost every day across all the platforms, which allows you to be“ in the know” with what is happening not only in Harrisburg, but all around our state. There is truly no excuse for any member to say,“ I didn’ t know that!”
Finally, the new year also means a new governance for PDA. As we all know we are now a TRUE tripartite dental association consisting of the ADA, PDA and your local dental society. The previous component( fourth part) was your trustee district and that has gone away. Some of our locals are now what was the trustee district( Dental Society of Western PA, formerly the 10 th District), but most are like mine in the Ninth District, where the locals are our five county dental societies. As membership is truly local, I urge you to engage with your local dental society and get involved. Go to a meeting. Go to a CE course. If your local isn’ t as active as it should be, step in and get more out of it!
Well, I know I am ready to hit the ground running and excited for this new year. I hope to see the new YOU somewhere across this state! Cheers!
— STR3
4 JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2026 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL