About the Peninsula Dental Society
History and Mission
The Peninsula Dental Society is the successor to The Peninsula Hospital Dental Society which was founded in 1968 as a hospital-based study-club sponsored by The Department of Dentistry of Peninsula Hospital Center, Far Rockaway, New York. The Society’s founders included Drs. Bernard Cohen, Theodore Schwarcz, Eugene Finkel, Harold Hartstein, Jerome Teitelbaum, and Carl Mintz, all faculty members of The Peninsula Hospital Center’s General Practice Dental Residency Program.
Their mission was to provide an on-going program of high quality, timely, post-graduate continuing dental education, presented by highly respected, well-credentialed, instructors, for the communal benefit of the hospital dental faculty, general practice dental residents, and community dentists, at a convenient venue conducive to frequent dentist attendance, with resulting benefits to the neighborhood dental population. When the hospital filed for bankruptcy and subsequently ceased operations in 2012, members and staff of The Peninsula Hospital Dental Society asked Dr. Leonard Schiffman, The Director of The Department of Dentistry and Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery, and, of the General Practice Dental Residency, if he would stay on to salvage the Society and continue the work of the organization. We have endeavored to faithfully carry on the mission of the founders ever since.
For the first 27 years, seminars were presented in the hospital’s Perlberg Auditorium, but as attendance at the program continued to increase, it became apparent that a larger venue would be required to accommodate the burgeoning number of attendees. In 1995, the Society moved its programs to The Sands of Atlantic Beach, where it continues to meet to this day. This site, which has no windows, and thus, no external ambient light intrusion, has accommodated as many as 200 dentists for a full-day seminar and has hosted presentations by virtually every prominent national dental educator, as well as some from abroad.
Among the hundreds of speakers we have proudly hosted are Drs.:
The Peninsula Dental Society is the successor to The Peninsula Hospital Dental Society which was founded in 1968 as a hospital-based study-club sponsored by The Department of Dentistry of Peninsula Hospital Center, Far Rockaway, New York. The Society’s founders included Drs. Bernard Cohen, Theodore Schwarcz, Eugene Finkel, Harold Hartstein, Jerome Teitelbaum, and Carl Mintz, all faculty members of The Peninsula Hospital Center’s General Practice Dental Residency Program.
Their mission was to provide an on-going program of high quality, timely, post-graduate continuing dental education, presented by highly respected, well-credentialed, instructors, for the communal benefit of the hospital dental faculty, general practice dental residents, and community dentists, at a convenient venue conducive to frequent dentist attendance, with resulting benefits to the neighborhood dental population. When the hospital filed for bankruptcy and subsequently ceased operations in 2012, members and staff of The Peninsula Hospital Dental Society asked Dr. Leonard Schiffman, The Director of The Department of Dentistry and Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery, and, of the General Practice Dental Residency, if he would stay on to salvage the Society and continue the work of the organization. We have endeavored to faithfully carry on the mission of the founders ever since.
For the first 27 years, seminars were presented in the hospital’s Perlberg Auditorium, but as attendance at the program continued to increase, it became apparent that a larger venue would be required to accommodate the burgeoning number of attendees. In 1995, the Society moved its programs to The Sands of Atlantic Beach, where it continues to meet to this day. This site, which has no windows, and thus, no external ambient light intrusion, has accommodated as many as 200 dentists for a full-day seminar and has hosted presentations by virtually every prominent national dental educator, as well as some from abroad.
Among the hundreds of speakers we have proudly hosted are Drs.:
- Damon Adams
- Michael Apa
- Ray Bertolotti
- Markus Blatz
- Gordon Christenson
- Stephen Chu
- Gerard Chiche
- Lyndon Cooper
- Bruce Crispin
- Gary DeWood
- Michael DiTolla
- Terry Donovan
- William Dorfman
- Thomas Dudney
- Newton Fahl
- Howard Farran
- David Garber
- Marc Geissberger
- Harold Gelb
- Michael Gelb
- Ronald Goldstein
- Louis Graham
- Jack Griffin
- Faroud Hakim
- David Hornbrook
- Parag Kachalia
- John Kanca
- Paul Keyes
- John Kois
- Vincent Kokich, Jr.
- Vincent Kokich, Sr.
- Richard Lazzara
- Karl Leinfelder
- Aldo Leopardi
- Jay Lerner
- Brian LeSage
- Roger Levin
- David Little
- Joseph Massad
- Alan Meltzer
- William Mopper
- Elliot Mechanic
- Ross Nash
- Omer Reed
- Scott Resnick
- Clifford Ruddle
- Henry Salama
- David Sarver
- Amanda Seay
- Michael Sessemann
- Jamison Spencer
- William Strupp
- Dennis Tarnow
- Jennifer St. Georges
- Avishai Sadan
- Henry Salama
- Maurice Salama
- Herbert Schilder
- Robert Shira
- William Strupp
- Terry Tanaka
- Bernard Touati
- Dean Vafiadis
- Robert Vogel
- Kit Weathers
- John West