Asociation Awards
The MDA Annual Awards of Dentist of the Year, Distinguished Service and Outstanding New Dental Leader honor individual dentist members for their contributions to the dental profession and their communities.
Dentist of the Year Dr. Aaron Bumann
This award recognizes a member who has demonstrated outstanding service to the dental profession and/or his or her community in the past year.
D
r. Bumann is known for his pas- sion to ensure access to dental care, especially for Missouri chil-
dren in vulnerable populations. Specifically in the past year, his work on the Medicaid Subcommittee of the Missouri Coalition for Oral Health has had a significant impact on dentists serving Medicaid families. Dr. Bumann is also recognized for his advocacy efforts at the state and federal levels for programs that help provide dental services to these vulnerable populations. Among various leadership roles in numerous organizations, he annually participates in the MDA Dental Day at the Capitol and is an Action Team Leader for the ADA Dentist and Student Lobby Day, through which he encourages other colleagues to partici- pate as Dental Medicaid providers.
In 2023 he was selected by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentists to be part of the Leadership Institute through the Kellogg School of Management, a highly competitive program from which he will gain skills to use in his career and as an advocate to advance children’s oral health. Also in 2023, he was selected as an ADA 10 Under 10 Award winner, an annual program that recognizes 10 dentists (graduated from dental school less than 10 years ago) who demon- strate excellence and inspire others in science, research and education, practice excellence, philanthropy, leadership and advocacy. In addition to the MDA and ADA, Dr. Bumann is a member of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the Missouri Coalition of Oral Health and the American Dental Education Association. He is a Fellow of the Pierre Fauchard Academy and American College of Dentists and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry.
His professional education includes an undergraduate degree from Bethel University, St. Paul, Minn.; a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, Minneapolis; an Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency at Lutheran Medical Center/Center for Family Health, Jackson, Mich., and, a Pediat- ric Dental Residency at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Penn. He
previously was an adjunct faculty at two different dental schools. Dr. Bumann practices at Dentistry for Children in Kansas City, Mo. Outside of dentistry, Dr. Bumann enjoys time with his wife, Dr. Erin Bumann, a dentist faculty member at UMKC School of Dentistry, and his two young children.
You are being acknowledged as Dentist of the Year for your collaborative work across various groups to advocate for vulnerable populations. One of these has been your leadership and involvement with Missouri Dental Medicaid, especially encouraging dentists to participate after the historic rate increase. What has been most challenging and most rewarding regarding this effort? The reward is seeing more children and adults, many who have never had access to dental care before, have a place to call their dental home! It is so gratifying to see other doctors welcome a new group of patients to their office, integrating communities and valuing those among us for the people in need of care that they are. The challenge is helping those who are skeptical, or express concerns, about having Medicaid as a part of their practice. The reasons for not being a Medicaid provider are many and sometimes have deep roots. Working through these issues is a real challenge, but in the end, it is worth it as we can bring both providers and patients together in a way that is often a first for both parties.
Continuing with Medicaid there are a lot of myths, or perhaps stigmas, about the experience (both the patient population and providing care) and about the administration (working with the state). What are a few of these you would dispel to encourage dentists rethink what they have heard, or even what their former experience was compared to being a provider in 2024 with the improvements? I am proud to be a part of a practice that has taken Medicaid for many years. With that said, some of the initial growing pains are in the rearview mirror. The biggest fear for anyone starting as a new MC provider is the possibility of no-shows. While no-shows certainly still occur for us, we have been able to minimize them over time with a clear and consistent attendance policy. While you cannot charge MC patients for missed appointments, you can have a policy for dismissal in relationship to missed appointments. The key to any policy you enact is all of your patients have to play by the same rules. Our policy for attendance/dismissal is the same for all our patients, MC and private insurance alike. Discrimination is a buzz word, but what that really means to me is we get an opportunity to treat all our patients, regardless of insurance, with the same dignity and respect.
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