DeWayne B. McCamish, DDS, MS, has begun his term as 2016-2017 president of the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO). The election was held at the AAO’s 116th Annual Session held in Orlando, April 29 to May 3, 2016.
“It is both a privilege and an honor to serve orthodontic patients and the orthodontists who provide their treatment the world over through the AAO,” said McCamish. “Each year the AAO helps members deliver the best possible care to their patients by providing them and their staff with educational opportunities, ongoing research, advocacy work, and professional services. As the AAO continues to serve an increasingly diverse range of members and patients, I am humbly honored to represent and to be part of an organization that has a lifelong positive impact on the health and wellbeing of children, teenagers, and adults. Orthodontists throughout the world affect the lives of those we treat by giving smiles that change lives.”
In 2009, the Southern Association of Orthodontists (SAO) elected McCamish to be its representative on the AAO Board of Trustees. The SAO is one of eight constituent organizations of the AAO, and serves orthodontists practicing in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, the portion of Louisiana that lies east of the Mississippi River, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The SAO is one of the two largest constituencies of the AAO in the United States.
A 1967 graduate of Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) with a double degree in chemistry and math, McCamish is also a graduate of the University of Tennessee Dental School, where he earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1970, and earned a master’s degree in orthodontics in 1973 from its Graduate School of Orthodontics. While in dental school, he was awarded the Faculty Medal, the Oral Medicine Award, the Oral Roentgenography Award, the Psi Omega Scholastic Achievement Award, membership of the Dean’s Society, and membership in Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU). While there, McCamish served both as class president and president of his professional fraternity, Psi Omega. He has been in the private practice of orthodontics since 1973 and currently practices with his partners, Randy Cooper, DMD, and K.C. Dyer, DDS, MS.
His memberships include the AAO and the SAO, the Tennessee Association of Orthodontists (TAO), the American Dental Association, the Tennessee Dental Association (TDA), the Chattanooga Area Dental Society, the University of Tennessee Orthodontic Alumni Association, and the American Academy of Oral Medicine. McCamish is also a member of the Lookout Dental Study Group and the Tennessee and Chattanooga CRANIO Study Club.
McCamish is a past president of the TAO, the SAO, and the University of Tennessee Orthodontic Alumni Association and has served terms as president of his local study club and the Third District Dental Society. He is a Diplomate of The American Board of Orthodontics, a member of the College of Diplomates of The American Board of Orthodontics, and is a Fellow of both the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists.
The TDA awarded him the Fellowship Award in 1985. The SAO recognized McCamish with its highest award in 2001: The Oren Oliver Distinguished Service Award. The University of Tennessee’s Graduate Orthodontic Program bestowed its Outstanding Alumnus Award on McCamish in 2008.
Over the years, Dr. McCamish has given of his time to a host of civic and community organizations, including the Signal Mountain Dixie Youth Baseball, the Signal Mountain Recreation Board, Health House of Chattanooga, the Brainerd Kiwanis Club, the Chattanooga Tennis Foundation Board, the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, the Make a Wish Foundation, the United Way of Chattanooga, the University of Tennessee Board of Governors, the MTSU Foundation Board of Trustees, and the Hamilton County Chapter of St Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
In his free time, McCamish enjoys tennis, golf, snow skiing, yoga and spending time with his family and grandchildren. In March 2009, he and his son Troy were national father/son finalists in the National Father/Son Indoor Tennis Championships. McCamish was twice recognized for his accomplishments in sports following his high school and collegiate career; he was inducted into the Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Tennessee Tennis Hall of Fame in 2003. He recently completed serving as a board member on the Tennessee Tennis Hall of Fame Foundation.
McCamish and his wife, Marilyn, are residents of Signal Mountain, Tenn, and have three children and five grandchildren. Their family was chosen as the Tennessee Tennis Family of the Year in 1993.
McCamish, who has offices in Chattanooga, Signal Mountain, and Ooltewah, Tenn, is currently profiled in the April/May issue of Orthodontic Products.
