A Fond Farewell

I never planned to see my own face on this page. Typically, this space is utilized for Peter Pizzi or Daniel Alter (and Pam Johnson before them) to share valuable personal insights about dentistry, business, and life. My own bylines are typically reserved for passing along knowledge from others to you, our readers. So, when Peter asked me to write this letter for my last issue before I move on from Inside Dental Technology, I was reluctant. After 10 years with the journal, however, this seems like the right thing to do.

When I came onboard in 2014, Pam and her co-founder, Valerie Berger, told me that this journal's purpose was to provide the highest level of content to an audience that previously had been given mostly product promotions and human-interest pieces. IDT was different; we served our readers with peer-reviewed clinical articles and high-level business content with actionable insights to help laboratory owners navigate challenging times. I am proud of the work we have done over the past 10 years in that regard.

I am also confident that the IDT team will continue to lead the industry in my absence—and, hopefully, that it will be even better. The backbone of IDT has always been its Editorial Advisory Board; I know that they, along with Peter and Daniel, will continue to guide the editorial team in covering the most relevant and pressing topics in the industry and presenting the clinical/technical work of leaders in the profession.

I humbly ask that you, the readers, continue to demand the best from IDT. The dental technician's place within the dental team has perhaps never been more important, and the journals that serve this profession should treat you as such. When members of our Editorial Advisory Board met for our annual breakfast this past February in Chicago, the overarching theme of the discussion was the importance of education; dental school curricula have critical holes that laboratories can fill if they prepare themselves to be those resources. IDT's role is to help in those preparations.

No one believes in that concept more than Peter and Daniel. I know they will continue to lead the charge for IDT, and while I will no longer be part of it, I look forward to continuing to read these pages for years to come.

Jason K. Mazda
Editorial Director, Dental