DPA Communique – 23 September

Dear Colleaugues

It gives me great pleasure to announce that the annual conference of the DPA will be held on Saturday, 06 November 2021. It will be a hybrid conference with some delegates and speakers participating virtually. The physical conference will be held at the iconic Protea Fire and Ice Menlyn, Pretoria.

The theme of the conference is Dentistry 2.0 – THE NEXT Level. This is a bold statement, not only regarding the conference, but also the vision of the DPA to elevate the professional and clinical standards of dental practice in South Africa to a high level.

The conference committee, led by Dr Malehlokoa Marishane, has done an incredible job in packaging both the workshops and lectures into a one-day programme. The workshops will be focused on the hard skills transfer and the lectures will focus on ethics and entrepreneurship. There are limited tickets for the workshops and colleagues are urged to register early.

We are looking forward to the virtual presentation (from London) by Dr Raj Rattan, from Dental Protection. He will be talking about ethical leadership as a prerequisite for the scaling of the dental practice. We have also lined up our home-grown talent such as Dr Sibuyi (endodontics) and Dr Twala (orthodontics). Our new kid on the block is Dr Dudu Mntambo who will be focusing on the small (but important) parts of building a scalable dental practice. Our headline speaker will be Dr Kometsi Mokuele, aka Dr K, who will be sharing with us his journey in dental entrepreneurship.

For me, the most important part of the conference will be the DPA awards. This year, we will be honouring the first dental therapy graduates (class of 1977). This group of individuals were the first black people in South Africa to be trained in the dental sciences. They were not trained at a university, but underwent 3 years of clinical training, initially at the Madikoti College of Technology, in Seshego, and subsequently at the Ga-Rankuwa Hospital. These individuals rose way beyond the structural barriers that were imposed on them but went on to transform dentistry and healthcare in South Africa. They are the true heroes and they deserve their due honour and recognition.

There will be a trade exhibition alongside the conference, and we are looking forward to welcoming the traders and sponsors of the conference. The following sponsors have already confirmed their participation:

• Wright-Millners
• Henry Schein
• OrthoMarketPlace
• Dental Protection
• KRSTL Aligners

We are grateful to the confirmed sponsors for their financial contributions towards the conference and we are looking forward to others coming on-board.

To close the conference, there will be a cocktail party. In proper DPA style, we will be rocking the dance floor and ending the 2021 conference in style.

To register for the conference, please follow the link below:

See you in November!

Kind Regards,
Dr Thabo Twala
Chairperson: Dental Professionals Association (DPA)