“Midway along the journey of our lives we found ourselves lost in a dark wood…” This paraphrase of the illimitable opening lines of Dante’s Comedia neatly sums up a nearly universal experience. At some point things deviate from their prescribed course. Often, it happens without realization or intentionality: shadows gather, surround, and the light seems far and shrouded. But it is not the purpose of this letter to dwell on the past. Lot’s wife and Orpheus offer example enough to the perils of looking behind — and besides, the Comedia, like all Comedies, is defined as such not because of its humor but because, unlike Tragedy, it has a happy ending.
For the AEGIS Dental Network, which on October 1, 2026, marked its return to the oral healthcare landscape as an independent entity, that happy ending is also a beginning. Not a new beginning, necessarily, but more of a force awakening: the banked embers of AEGIS stoked to burst into new radiance. With reinvigorated purpose, we embark on this next phase of our journey, unfettered now, our unfurled sails full of optimism, invention, and excitement. Yet we are ever mindful of the legacy of AEGIS, for we remain indebted and committed to those core values by which the original AEGIS crew navigated. As a proud veteran of that vessel, I can attest AEGIS was not a name chosen frivolously by our founders. It carries with it a burden of expectation: to protect, to guide, and to relentlessly champion the highest ethics and principles of the oral healthcare community in all that we do.
That expectation began with the first issue of Inside Dentistry in October 2005. Two decades later this journal remains our proud flagship and standard-bearer of the AEGIS legacy. We promise it will remain dauntless in its efforts to deliver not only the highest quality clinical content but to face head-on the challenges and controversies of 21st century healthcare through a lens of journalistic scrutiny.
On behalf of our new owner, our executive leadership, Dr. Robert Margeas and the editorial staff, and the entire AEGIS Dental Network team, I thank our supporters and especially you, Inside Dentistry’s readers, for your continued patronage and your commitment to lifelong learning and quality dentistry. Our wandering in the wood is ended. Come forth with us now and “see anew the stars…”
Sincerely,
C. Justin Romano
VP, Operations, Content, and Strategy
AEGIS Dental Network
for
Seth Hauben
Owner/CEO
AEGIS Dental Network
Eric Temple
VP, Commercial Operations
AEGIS Dental Network
Noah Levine
Director, Editorial
AEGIS Dental Network
