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This nomination has been in the making for at least 30 years, because for as long as I have known our author of the year, Jay Friedman, his raison d'être has been prevention of overtreatment in dentistry, not least of which is the rampant extraction of third molars, aka wisdom teeth.
Jay asked me to review a draft of his manuscript, anticipating that I would be supportive. He was right. I recommended that he submit it to the Journal, rather than a more narrowly focused dental journal, to reach a much broader audience with the likelihood that fewer young adults would be exposed to injury from unnecessary extractions.
Considering that the Journal receives hundreds of submission, it was not surprising that a paper on dental extractions, which at first glance seemed more...