My Greatest Career Achievement? AACD Accreditation! with Adamo Notarantonio, DDS, FAACD
Dr. Notarantonio has been a member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD) since 2007 and currently serves as Accreditation Chair. He achieved Accredited Fellow status in 2018. He was the recipient of the AACD’s Evy Rising Star Award in 2016 and also volunteers for the AACD Charitable Foundation’s Give Back a Smile program. Dr. Notarantonio sat down with us to explain how achieving Accreditation has been the greatest accomplishment of his career, in terms of raising his skill set, and why “everyone should be Accredited and everybody should go through the process, because you're going to be 20 times better than you ever dreamed you could be.”
Q: Today’s dental office is a hectic place, so why should dentists devote precious time and energy toward pursuing the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry's (AACD) Accreditation process?
A: To begin, I would first tell other dentists and technicians that the Accreditation process was an eye-opening experience and it has elevated my skill set more than anything else I’ve done. And that’s what makes me get up and go to work every day. I don’t think work is work! I wake up and look forward to the next day because I love what I do. Before going through this Accreditation process, I would never have imagined having the esthetic eye that I now have. There’s simply no way that I’d be able to do the kind of dentistry that I’m fortunate enough to be doing right now.
As an Accredited dentist, I can say that my referral base is completely word of mouth and very cosmetic-based, and this Accreditation has definitely increased my patient flow toward the side of cosmetics, so it’s been a tremendous help in expanding my practice.
“…you are going to be 20 times better than you ever dreamed you could be.”
- Adamo Notarantonio, DDS, FAACD
Q: Can you give us an overview of the Accreditation process and what’s involved?
A: Once you pass the written exam, the next step is to submit specific clinical cases. Dentists have 5 clinical cases and ceramists have 3 clinical cases to submit. Once you pass the written exam, you have 5 years to complete the remaining requirements. You must submit before and after photographs for each case, along with a written report detailing the procedures completed and the materials used. Once you pass the clinical cases, you take an oral examination, in which the examiners ask you to present two of your submitted cases. The second purpose of the oral exam is to provide the candidate with an opportunity to demonstrate their treatment planning abilities. There is a short waiting period of a few weeks and then you are notified whether you have been Accredited by the AACD.
Q: What advice would you give to dentists who would like to pursue Accreditation?
A: The first advice I would stress is the importance of a mentor, which is pivotal to being successful in this Accreditation process. It is so important to have mentors who are AACD Accreditation examiners because they truly understand the grading system, and their eyes are calibrated to look at your cases and see things you wouldn’t necessarily see. Working with my mentor, I started to notice very minute discrepancies that really meant the difference between my case being good or exceptional.
The second piece of advice I would offer is that this is not a process for the faint of heart! It’s not easy, but it’s achievable by anybody who has the will to do it. Being on stage for my Accreditation and Fellowship were two of my proudest days in my entire career! This is an awesome and challenging testing process, and it will make you better at what you do, and hopefully that’s everyone’s goal during their dental careers.