Dr. John Caccamese’s Recap of the ACOMS Fish-and-Learn Course
This year will go down as an EPIC year for me. All of my time in academics had built up to and prepared me for 2019, the year of the first ever ACOMS Fish-and-Learn Lifestyle Course in Montana. Finally, I had the chance to use all of my training and patience to fool the trout of Montana. In addition to the incredible access to fishing, I had the opportunity to learn about unique aspects of oral and maxillofacial surgery that I am rarely, if ever, exposed to in my practice at the University of Maryland. We had talks about medical cannabis, burnout and wellness in oral and maxillofacial surgery, all-on-four implant marketing and treatment, orthognathic mishaps, antimicrobial stewardship, and pediatric anesthesia complications, among many other topics.
One of the best aspects of the course was the relatively small size, which allowed ample participant interaction—both on the river, as well as in the lecture hall. In this intimate venue, there was more of an opportunity for real time interactions with the speakers and more connectedness amongst the group. Additionally, we allowed time for the telling of “fish stories,” where the participants brought their toughest cases for a little session of crowdsourcing to get the best answers for treatment.
To top it all off, we had great weather and fishing conditions on the Yellowstone River and the Depuy Spring Creek. Plenty of fish cooperated with our fly presentations and were brought to hand by many of our less experienced anglers, while more seasoned fly fishers tried their craft on the PhD-educated trout of the spring creeks. The guides were phenomenal. We had several first time fishers who all had success, as well as many “trout bums” (seasoned fly-fishers) who left very satisfied. The venue was top notch. For any who travels to Montana to fish, I could not recommend the Sage Lodge more highly. It is in the shadow of Emigrant Peak, a beautiful mountain in the hills of Pray, right on the Yellowstone River. There was a wonderful practice pond with rods and reels available, as well as casting classes so that everyone could be ready for a day floating the river.
Overall, it was a wonderful event, and considering that it was a first-year course, ACOMS had everything incredibly dialed in. We are hoping to give it another go in the future—so for all those fly fishers out there, who want an excuse to fish...AND LEARN, this is a one of a kind OMS course, done right.
Tight lines!
John F. Caccamese, Jr., DMD, MD, FACS
The ACOMS Lifestyle Series was created to further our two-fold mission: to enhance surgical excellence through education and promote fellowship amongst oral and maxillofacial surgeons.