7 Issue One, Two Thousand and Twenty-Five www.aadej.org FROM THE PRESIDENT scientific record be treated with such disregard. It is egregious that a country’s public health agency, or any government authority, should demand the erasure of any terminology, particularly medically relevant terminology.”3 This issue strikes at the heart of dental editing and journalism. As dental communicators, we rely extensively on evidence-based research, data accessibility, and expert recommendations to inform our critical analysis and publications. Our work depends on translating peer-reviewed scientific literature into articles and sharing vetted recommendations across association websites for both practitioners and the public. When federal agencies revise or remove their web pages, selectively sanitizing or permanently eliminating crucial resources, we face an uncertain landscape. Crucial public health information — from HPV vaccination to combat oral cancer to the benefits of community water fluoridation — may become increasingly difficult to access. Much like my chaotic archive packed into boxes, who knows what may be permanently lost? As the conduit for clinically relevant information and the recorders of our profession’s history, dental editors and journalists must undertake our own form of house cleaning — not to discard, but to methodically organize and safeguard valuable information for access and future reference. This may include: • Assessing links posted on our association websites and those provided in articles and the public recommendations we provide, to ensure they function, and that the information provided is consistent with intended messaging. • Archive current and past issues of our publications through ADA Commons. It is free to state and local dental societies. Learn more by contacting commons@ada.org • Consider having ADA Commons create a collection within your Commons page for critical content from web links and historical association documents. These rapidly evolving times present challenges and opportunities. Organizing documents strewn across the desktop and elsewhere allows us to take stock of what we have and protect critical information from being swept up by politically motivated scrubbing campaigns. The time has come for our AADEJ community to actively preserve the professional record, not just for our immediate needs but as stewards of our profession’s literature and heritage. References: 1. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Statement by NAS, NAE, and NAM presidents on report of banned words at CDC. Published December 18, 2017. Accessed February 12, 2025. https://www.nationalacademies. org/news/2017/12/statement-by-nas-nae-and-nam-presidents-on-report-of- banned-words-at-cdc 2. Milman O. Trump orders USDA to take down websites referencing climate crisis. The Guardian. January 31, 2025. Accessed February 6, 2025. https://www. theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/31/trump-order-usda-websites- climate-crisis 3. Medical journal editors must resist CDC order and anti-gender ideology, BMJ 2025;388:r253 BMJ 2025; 388 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r253 Published 04 February 2025. For years, my wife’s solution was simply to keep the door closed, quarantining my cluttered archive so that she and visitors were protected from witnessing the mess.
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