Blanton assumes ACD presidency

Texas A&M Health Science Center Baylor College of Dentistry alumna Dr. Patricia Blanton is making her mark on the dental profession with her election as president of the American College of Dentists and her ascension to 1^st vice president of the American Dental Association in October 2011.

“One of the highest honors of my professional career will be to serve as president of the American College of Dentists, the oldest national honorary society for dentists,” Blanton said. “One of my goals will be to enhance the public’s and the profession’s knowledge of the efforts of the ACD to elevate ethical conduct within our profession and assure that we dentists never lose the public’s trust.”

Blanton has ample experience in professional leadership roles. She is first vice president of the American Dental Association and a past president of the Texas Dental Association, Southwest Society of Periodontists, Texas Society of Periodontists and the Dallas County Dental Society. She also has served as a delegate and alternate delegate to both the ADA and TDA Houses of Delegates.

Blanton received her doctorate in anatomy from Baylor University and her dental degree and certificate in periodontics from Baylor College of Dentistry.

She has spent most of her professional career involved in some way at the college, having chaired the Department of Gross Anatomy in the ’80s, where she currently is professor emeritus in biomedical sciences, and serves on the Baylor Oral Health Foundation Board. In addition to numerous academic positions and professional appointments, Blanton practices periodontics and implantology full time. She is a past president of the Baylor Alumni Association.

Her awards and recognitions include nomination to the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame for health and research, the Baylor College of Dentistry Distinguished Alumni Award, the DCDS Dentist of the Year Award, DCDS Lifetime Achievement Award, the Student Clinicians of the American Dental Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Association of Women Dentists’ 2008 Woman Dentist of the Year/Lucy Hobbs Taylor Award, and the Commanders Award from the Europe Regional Dental Command. The TAMHSC-BCD biomedical sciences library also has been named in her honor.