Bulletin of Dental Education

Thanks to concerns raised by ADEA, the American Dental Association (ADA), and other oral health organizations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reversed its decision to downgrade the Division of Oral Health (DOH). On January 14, 2011, ADEA Executive Director Richard W. Valachovic wrote to CDC Director Thomas Frieden and stated that “we strongly believe that DOH’s role should be preserved and the division should not be placed under the Division of Adult and Community Health where the issue of oral health care will have to compete with other pressing health issues.”

For the first time the American Dental Education Association, generously supported by Sunstar Americas, Inc., a longstanding ADEA Corporate Member, has established the ADEA/Sunstar Americas, Inc. Student Legislative Internship, an opportunity for dental and allied dental students to gain experience in public policy formulation and advocacy on behalf of academic dentistry.

The American Dental Education Association welcomes the release of Advancing Oral Health in America, the first of two new reports on oral health undertaken by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration, the report builds on and supplements the 2000 Surgeon General’s Report, Oral Health in America, and the National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health in 2003.

U.S. Representative Michael K. “Mike” Simpson, one of two dentists in the U.S. Congress, addressed attendees at the 2011 AADR-ADEA Deans’ Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill on Monday, April 4. He provided an insider's perspective from the vantage point of a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

Over 300 dental students from across the United States descended on Washington, D.C., on March 28 and 29 for the 2011 National Dental Student Lobby Day co-sponsored by the American Student Dental Association (ASDA) and ADEA. The schedule was tightly packed with several informative topics, including a refresher on how exactly Congress works and why understanding advocacy is important within the realm of oral health care.

Dental and medical professionals, political leaders, and university administrators gathered at the new campus of Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in San Francisco on February 3 to celebrate the opening of its dental clinic. The event offered an opportunity for attendees to tour the hospital's new facilities, learn more about services provided to its 780 residents, and ask questions of hospital and dental clinic directors and staff.

Mark your calendars and register now for Deans' Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill, April 3-5, 2011, in Washington, DC. The featured speaker will be one of the Republican Party's best-known media consultants and political strategists, Mr. Alex Castellanos, a frequent contributor to CNN, The Huffington Post, NationalReview.com, and CNN.com. Attendees will hear his insights on what to expect from the new Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The 2011 ASDA/ADEA National Dental Student Lobby Day will take place March 28-29, 2011. Training will be held on Monday, March 28, at the Capital Hilton, and Capitol Hill visits will take place on Tuesday, March 29.