DeWayne B. McCamish, DDS, MS, an orthodontist with offices in Chattanooga, Signal Mountain, and Ooltewah, Tenn, has been elected the 2015-2016 president-elect of the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO). The election was recently held during the AAO’s 115th Annual Session in San Francisco. McCamish will become the AAO president in May 2016.
“It is an honor and privilege to be called upon to serve the orthodontic specialty and its millions of patients,” said McCamish. “Our goal at the AAO is to be able to help AAO members provide the highest level of care to the patients we serve. We do this by providing educational opportunities to our members, supporting orthodontic education and research, by educating the public regarding the orthodontic specialist, and by advocating for our patients to ensure their access to excellent orthodontic care from an orthodontic specialist.”
McCamish was elected to the AAO Board of Trustees in 2010 by the Southern Association of Orthodontists (SAO). 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.
He is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, and his efforts in the classroom and on the school’s football and baseball teams were acknowledged when he received the Scholastic Athlete Award for having the highest grade point average his senior year. McCamish is also a graduate of the University of Tennessee Dental School and its Graduate School of Orthodontics, where he earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery and Master’s in Orthodontics degrees.
McCamish is a member of numerous professional organizations including the AAO and SAO, the Tennessee Association of Orthodontists (TAO), the American Dental Association, the Tennessee Dental Association, the Chattanooga Area Dental Society, the University of Tennessee Orthodontic Alumni Association, the American Academy of Oral Medicine, 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 local and district dental societies. He is a Diplomate of The American Board of Orthodontics, a member of the College of Diplomates of The American Board of Orthodontics, and a Fellow of both the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists.
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. McCamish has given generously of his time to a host of civic and community organizations. Among them are Signal Mountain Dixie Youth Baseball, Health House of Chattanooga, Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, Make a Wish Foundation, United Way, and 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 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; he was inducted into the Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame and the Tennessee Tennis Hall of Fame.
McCamish and his wife, Marilyn, are residents of Signal Mountain, Tenn.