AAE Advocacy Win in the District of Columbia Keeps Endodontists in Practice
In April, AAE leadership was alerted to a threatening bill by DC member Carolina Rodriguez-Rad, DMD, MSD, which would place an administrative burden on dental specialties by requiring them to hold a secondary and separate dental specialist license and be board-certified to practice in the District of Columbia. While AAE fully supports its members who seek board certification, only some of our endodontists can make the financial or personal investment to become board-certified. Approximately 27 percent of endodontists are board-certified, and this licensure requirement would result in a severe shortage of endodontic services in the District of Columbia harming patients. If enacted, this proposal would force most DC endodontists who are not board-certified to relocate their practices to neighboring states like Maryland or Virginia or, even worse, close their practices permanently.
AAE advocacy leaders quickly took action to support our DC members. The AAE was the first dental specialty on record opposing the Act, submitting written testimony in opposition to the DC Council. The AAE also contacted the DC Dental Society to support their efforts on the ground and commends their leadership and Executive Director, Kurt Gallagher for their quick grassroots response and coalition activation.
The AAE would like to recognize and thank the eleven AAE members who opposed the bill through grassroots comments to members of the DC Council. Their dedication and hard work were instrumental to the dental community’s successful advocacy efforts. Thank you, Drs. Luke Cantamessa, Lipin Chen, Moein Jabbar Darjani, Brian Davis, Tu-Quynh Erickson, Marc Jiorle, Naghmeh Latifi, Ali Sedighi Manesh, Kim Menhinick, Anastasia Mischenko, Angela Noguera, and Carolina Rodriguez-Rad!
Strong opposition from the dental community quickly halted this harmful proposal from advancing in the legislative process, leading to the cancellation of a legislative hearing on the Act and its withdrawal from the session by the DC Mayor in July—killing the measure.
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