ADA House of Delegates Update by VICKI WILBERS | MDA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
on MDA’s delegation to the ADA, which included: Drs. Jay Brown, Louise First, Robin Hayes, Ashley Popejoy, Prabu Raman, Ted Rechtin, Connie White, Bob Butler, Gar- ret Cochran, Amanda Fitzpatrick, Danielle Riordan, Christine Schoolman, Jennifer Wheeler and Ron Wilkerson. I also thank MDA team members Halie Payne and Margie Kunze, who attended portions of the meet- ing, and especially Margie for her work to organize the Sixth District delegation and its caucus meetings.
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At this meeting, Dr. Brett Kessler, Colorado, was installed as the ADA President. Also elected were Richard Rosato, New Hamp- shire as President-Elect; Cody Graves, Texas as Treasurer; and, Tamara Berg, Oklahoma as Second Vice President.
The 2024 Unofficial Actions of the ADA House have been shared with the House and can be viewed at
modental.org/adahouse. The following summary outlines some of the more interesting or pertinent items of debate.
ADA dues remained the same for 2025 year at $570. The ADA SmileCon (CE and exhibits) and House meeting have been held in conjunction for many years. The meetings will likely separate after the 2025 meeting planned in Washington, DC. No official announcement was made by the ADA Board; however, it was clear from outside discussion that meetings will separate in the future. ADA’s Member Code of Conduct was updated following the referral of Resolu- tion 217-2023 sent to the ADA by the Sixth District in 2023. It updated appropriate conduct by members in discussions, activities or interactions that refer to, reflect on or represent dentist(s) or the profession of den- tistry, addressed professional and respectful conduct at meetings of ADA and state and
nother ADA House of Delegates meeting has come and gone. As always, I especially want to thank the MDA members serving
local societies, and called for fostering an inclusive environment that enhances profes- sional relationships.
It was clear from the House debate that workforce shortages are a major issue for dentists across all practice modalities and all dental allied personnel. Several resolu- tions addressed workforce matters. See the Workforce column on page 16 for a more extensive update on these.
The Comprehensive Policy of the ADA on Dental Licensure was addressed through Resolution 404. It called for support for licensure compacts, amendment to policies on such items as elimination of patients in clinical licensure examinations to address ethical and psychometric concerns and urg- ing of state dental societies and dental boards to work toward acceptance of valid and reli- able clinical assessments that do not require single encounter performance procedures on patient. It eventually was referred to the appropriate agency for further study. The main rub within the policy centered around dental board members having a conflict by serving on the state dental boards and serv- ing as dental board examiners for the varying examination bodies. The sentiment being that at the very least a dental board member that serves as an examiner, should recuse themselves from selecting a licensing exam for their state.
ADA’s Commission on Continuing Educa- tion Provider Recognition (CERP) was challenged through Resolution 410, calling for this agency to be responsive to concerns raised by state dental societies and many of the CERP-certified associations. Con- cerns related to maintaining and attaining recognition, the process being expensive, time consuming, and the concerns related to movements to excessive standards that put states out of reach of attaining the program. Many state dental associations have either dropped their CERP accreditation or are in the process of considering another form of
Dr. Brett Kessler was installed as the 161st ADA president.
accreditation process, such as AGD PACE. MDA is no exception and will no longer accredit through ADA’s CERP program in May of 2025. Resolution 410 was eventually rewritten and adopted calling for assistance from ADA CERP for states applying to the programs and a review of the CERP extended approval process which allows states to ex- tend its CERP accreditation to local compo- nent societies.
It was the first time the ADA’s Strategic Fore- casting Committees reported back to the ADA Board and then to the ADA House with high level goals including input on the ADA’s Mission and Vision statements, from three committees: Direct to Dentist, Public/Profes- sion, Tripartite/Component. The House de- bated on a few items within the reports and eventually adopted the proposed forecasting. These will be used to move strategy forward for the ADA with quarterly reports and dash- boards shared with House members. The ADA also adopted a Mission Statement: Help dentists succeed and support the advancement of the health of the public. And a Vision State- ment: Empowering the dental profession to achieve optimal health for all.
The ADA Foundation (ADAF) launched its Give Veterans A Smile (GVAS), a new ini- tiative to help address veterans’ unmet oral health needs, at SmileCon 2024. The ADA House also adopted Resolution 307, a Dental Care for Veterans policy, supporting legisla- tive efforts to achieve optimal oral health and well-being for all veterans and calling for increased federal funding to ensure access to care.
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