Dental Professionals Outreach
The AAE champions endodontists across the entire dental profession. The Association and its members are a voice for the specialty on ADA councils and committees, relationships with other specialty groups, and through ongoing communications around standard of care, treatment planning and referral.
Advocacy-related articles from the Communiqué are below, followed by more information about the AAE's work with specific groups and other activities.
Advocacy in Action: AAE Leads Charge to Revise ADA Specialty Referral Guidelines
At the initiative of the AAE, seven dental specialties recently sent a letter to ADA President Dr. Carol Gomez Summerhays outlining serious concerns with the ADA’s Guidelines for Practice Success: Specialty Referrals. The guidelines were developed by the ADA’s Council on Dental Practice without dental specialty input. The letter details the shortcomings of the guidelines, starting with their lack of any mention of the nine ADA-recognized dental specialties, the significance of advanced specialty training, or the resources our organizations have available to patients and general dentists.
President’s Message: Do We Have an Identity Crisis?
How many times have you introduced yourself to a patient and been asked, “What exactly is an endodontist?” The question implies that they have come to your office for a complex dental procedure through blind trust in the individual who sent them rather than knowledge of your credentials and expertise. It also is testimony to an identity crisis from which most dental specialties suffer. The reality is that the public at large does not understand the dental specialty process or how a specialist differs from a primary dental care provider. Typically, an identity crisis is defined as a state of confusion in an organization regarding its constitution or direction – our crisis is that our patients and even some of our dental colleagues do not really understand who we are.
ADPAC: 2016 Election Update
With the intense focus of a presidential election year, it is easy to forget that each member of the U.S. House of Representatives is up for reelection in 2016 (as they are every two years). As always, ADPAC is working to give dentistry a voice in the federal government by backing candidates who are committed to supporting dental professionals and improving oral health.