american dental association

ADA hires Fleishman-Hillard as Public Relations Firm

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An article written on February 14, 2013, titled “ADA selects national communications firm“, by Kelly Soderlund discusses how the American Dental Association (ADA) has recently hired Fleishman-Hillard as their public relations (PR) firm. The article states “Fleishman-Hillard will be charged with developing communications strategies and messages; proactively pitching major oral health stories to national media; and creating toolkits and other multimedia materials that dental societies can also use as issues management resources. The goal…is to build and enhance dentists’ reputation and the profession; position the dentist as a fully-trained doctor who leads the dental team; demonstrate dentistry’s leadership in breaking down barriers to oral health for all Americans; and ensure that the media portrays dentistry fairly and accurately.” I am not quite sure what exactly to expect from this PR campaign. The article talks about portraying dentists fairly and accurately and also … Read more

Politics of Dental Anesthesiology

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A recent article titled “Dental anesthesiology falls short of becoming ADA specialty,” by Rob Goskowski, Nov. 1, 2012, located at http://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=sup&sub=rst&pag=dis&ItemID=311903, discusses a recent vote that took place at the House of Delegates during the 2012 American Dental Association (ADA) Annual Session. The House of Delegates voted against recognizing Dental anesthesiology as the 10th ADA recognized specialty. Steven Ganzberg, a clinical professor and the chair of dental anesthesiology at UCLA says: “This action by the ADA confirms that the ADA process of specialty approval is fatally flawed….This was clearly an effort by the ADA, through AAOMS [the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons], to restrict professional activities that specialty recognition would have provided.” Dr. Ganzberg and some other supporters were hoping that the specialty would be approved as they felt it would lead to increased training and emergency preparedness … Read more

American Dental Association Toothflix Demo Series

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Recently the American Dental Association (ADA)  has released a Patient Education DVD series called Toothflix. It contains 23 different video segments which explore different topics designed to educate patients on their oral health and prevention and treatment strategies. The complete series including all 23 segments currently is available for $699. Each segment is around 3 to 6 minutes long. It is intended to be played on a TV and DVD player in the reception or waiting area of a dental office. It could also be used in actual treatment rooms perhaps to help explain more clearly certain topics to patients. In addition another use would be for when a dentist goes out into the community to give a presentation or some other event. The ADA has 7 of the segments partially available on their website for demonstration purposes. I reviewed … Read more

Wisdom Teeth Advice and New Dental Schools

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A new article in the New York Times titled “Wisdom of Having that Tooth Removed” written by Roni Caryn Rabin published September 5, 2011, is an interesting articles for those considering whether or not to have healthy wisdom teeth extracted. The article is located at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/health/06consumer.html The article explores some of the issues regarding whether or not you should or not have have healthy wisdom teeth extracted. The article discusses how the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) held a press conference back in October of 2010, http://www.aaoms.org/docs/media/third_molars/key_findings.pdf (dead 10/14/19), in which one of the key findings was “Retained, asymptomatic wisdom teeth are eventually extracted between 25% and almost 70% of the time.” The author of the New York Times article questioned AAOMS on this statement which appeared on their website. The response from AAOMS was “Yet when … Read more

ADA Breaking Down Barriers to Oral Health for All Americans: Repairing the Tattered Safety Net

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On August 12, 2011, the American Dental Association (ADA) released the second paper in their series of papers on access to oral health. The paper is available for download from the ADA at http://www.ada.org/sections/advocacy/pdfs/breaking-down-barriers.pdf The first paper released on February 22, 2011, was titled Breaking Down Barriers to Oral Health for All Americans: The Role of Workforce as available for download from the ADA at http://www.ada.org/sections/advocacy/pdfs/ada_workforce_statement.pdf. I have previously commented on this first paper here http://blog.teethremoval.com/breaking-down-barriers-to-oral-health-for-all-americans-ada-workforce-statement/ Like the first paper, in the opening of the document is a message from Raymond Gist, D.D.S. and President of the American Dental Association. In this message Dr. Gist states “…increasing numbers of Americans find themselves unable to pay for dental care….For this growing population, the so-called oral health safety net is the only recourse for preventing and treating oral disease….the general definition of safety net … Read more