Asdoh Asda Lingual Groove Spring 2013 Rev1

April 2013

The Lingual Groove

One of the greatest aspects of attend-

ing ASDA Annual Session is that,

through the breakout sessions, you

can tailor your experience to your

personal interests and goals. For me

this meant attending the sessions that

dealt with legislative issues and how

to better advocate for them.

The first breakout session I attended

was titled “Advocacy for the Next

generation of Dentists.” The goal of

this meeting was to explain the im-

portance of the American Dental Po-

litical Action Committee (ADPAC).

Dr. Gordon Isbell, a Board Member

of ADPAC, spoke to the group about

the power of organized dentistry and

the impact that dentistry, as a collec-

tive unit, can make in benefiting our

profession. Dr. Isbell keyed in on the

recent impacts ADPAC has made in

Washington, DC. Through lobbying

efforts and establishing strong rela-

tionships with the lawmakers in

Washington, ADPAC has successful-

ly blocked a number of detriments to

dentistry that fell under the Afforda-

ble Care Act. This included blocking

Mid-Level Providers, as well as

blocking the 2.3% tax on fillings,

crowns and implants. Other issues

that ADPAC is currently fighting for

include student debt, student loan

repayment, insurance reimburse-

ments, and tax issues affecting small

businesses. Dr. Isbell stressed how

important being a member of AD-

PAC is, even as a dental student. By

joining ADPAC as a student, you get

involved and invested early in your

career, which may pay dividends

down the road.

The next meeting I attended focused

on building a relationship with your

state dental association. Organized

dentistry is an amazing

entity to be involved with

on any level, strength in

numbers is a powerful

thing. By establishing a relationship

with ones’ state dental association as

a student, you are able to gain insight

from more experienced dentists on

issues spanning from practice man-

agement to what political actions are

affecting our profession. In turn, by

being involved as a student member

of state dental associations, we can

provide our perspective as students.

Continued on the next page

Inside this issue:

ASDA Annual Ses-

sion continued

2

A Busy Day… Capitol 2

ADPAC 3

Legislation Affecting

Dentistry

5

Making a Difference

with Dental Degree

5

Corporate Dentistry 6

GKAS 7

MLPs, State Dental Associations and

Lobbying: ASDAs Annual Session

The Lingual Groove

MLPs, State Dental Associations and Lobbying: ASDAs Annual

Session continued

“A Busy Day at the Capitol”

“It’s a busy day at the capitol…”

Representative Heather Carter, the

Chair of the Committee on Health

begins during a committee hearing in

the Arizona House of Representa-

tives. She continues to introduce us

dental students and the dentists who

represent the Arizona Dental Associ-

ation supporting several oral health

initiatives on Dental Lobby Day

which took place February 13th,

2013.

It was thrilling to see the process, if

only for a day. It sparked an even

greater interest in me for dental advo-

cacy. It was inspiring to see local

dentists persuasively lobby for Medi-

caid expansion for Arizonans and the

bill, HB 2513, which would enable

the Board of Dental Examiners to

take disciplinary action against busi-

ness entities (ie. dental corporations)

that interfere with a dentist’s clinical

judgment. Arizona is one of the few

states in the nation that permit non-

licensee ownership of dental practic-

es.

In fact during our visit, HB 2513

was scheduled for a hearing before

the House Health Committee. Dr.

Allison House, treasurer of the Ari-

zona Dental Association (AzDA) and

Kevin Earle, executive director of the

AzDA, testified sharing their stories

and explaining the dental communi-

ty’s perspective as to why this bill

should pass. This bill would give the

Board of Dental Examiners the abil-

ity to charge a registered business

entity with “unethical conduct,” and

thus permit disciplinary action to be

taken.

Continued on next page

The session provided such ideas as

inviting the state dental associations

to campus to give presentations, and

also attempting to connect out of

state students with their home state

dental association (especially if that

state does not have a dental school).

The session concluded by explaining

what an ideal situation of involve-

ment would be with a state dental

association as a dental student: hav-

ing a voting member on each com-

mittee with alternations, voting

members on house of delegates floor

and a student member on the board

of trustees. I look forward to help-

ing our chapter at ASDOH reach

this ideal situation.

Finally, I attended a breakout ses-

sion on one of the hottest topics in

dentistry today: Mid-Level Provid-

ers. From everything I had been ex-

posed to prior on this issue, this was

by far the most complete and well

put together presentation on Mid-

Level Providers I have seen. It was

well orchestrated, showed all the

different sides of the issue, provided

the audience with significant data

and facilitated a discussion that

spilled into the hallway after the ses-

sion had concluded. The presenta-

tion examined the different models

of Mid-Level Providers: Alaska’s

Dental Health Aid Therapists, Min-

nesota’s Dental Therapists, New

Zealand’s Dental Therapists and

Community Dental Health Coordi-

nators. The point of the session was

to highlight the American Dental

Associations stance on Mid-Level

Providers. The ADA feels that

breaking down the barriers for all

Americans is the main issue at hand.

Through prevention, literacy, educa-

tion and instilling values in oral

health is how this is accomplished,

not by creating a new provider.

By attending the various sessions

that interested me most I received a

sense of empowerment and enthusi-

asm for how to make our chapter at

ASDOH better. Attending Annual

Session provided me with education,

ideas, energy, and new networking

outlets. I am confident, that upon

utilization of what was gained from

Annual Session, our

chapter can and will

become greater than it

already is!

~ Jordan Janis ASDOH

2016’

The Lingual Groove

“A Busy Day at the Capitol” continued

It would help ensure a dentist

can remain autonomous in one’s de-

cision making. It is a concern that

some dental corporations may push

treatment that is unnecessary to gain

a profit. HB 2513 also eliminates the

age restriction in the Dental Practice

Act for a dentist to obtain a retired

license, which had been arbitrarily

set at 65 years of age. Let’s examine

the first part of this bill in light of the

hearing.

While I was not in person during the

entirety of the hearing, I found the

recording online and am able to re-

port on the proceedings of the hear-

ing by using this resource on the

State Legislature’s website at

www.azleg.gov. First, Mr. Earle pro-

vided some background information

about the necessity of the bill. Then,

Dr. House shared her personal expe-

riences from previous work in a cor-

porate office.

A year out of dental school, Dr.

House worked as an employee den-

tist for a corporate entity. One day

she came to work and found her usu-

al assistant assigned to do a full day

of cleanings, although the assistant

was not licensed or qualified to do

cleanings. Another day, Dr. House

was met by a treatment plan of tooth

extractions and a denture delivery.

The chart was very unclear, so she

investigated the case. She found that

not only did an assistant make the

denture, but the patient was never

even seen by any of the other den-

tists working in the office. Dr.

House refused to do the work and

was fired later that week. She asks

that the business entities “be held to

the same standard as dentists” by the

Board of Dental Examiners.

In a unanimous vote, with “do pass”

recommendation the bill was moved

out of the house Health Committee

to continue on in the legislative pro-

cess. To become a law this bill must

next pass through the majority and

minority caucuses, then the House

floor, next to the Senate Health

Committee, get passed by the full the

Senate, and finally to the Governor.

The Governor can then sign the bill,

making it law. In Arizona, new laws

take effect 90 days after the Legisla-

ture adjourns for the session.

Getting engaged in legislative advo-

cacy on behalf of organized dentistry

is a great way to have a greater im-

pact on our profession and our com-

munities. It empowers us to have

influence beyond the patients we see

on a day to day basis. It enables us to

help as many people as we can. We

must find our voice and engage in

pertinent issues to help mold the fu-

ture of our profession. We need to

prevent others from undermining our

autonomy as oral health care provid-

ers and support laws that improve

the health of our patients. I encour-

age you to come

out for next year’s

Dental Lobby

Day! It was time

very well spent.

~ Jessi Giles

ASDOH 2016’

The American Dental Political Action Committee: Why Schools Need

to do a Better Job Making Students Aware of Their Importance

Wow, another day of emails upon

emails sent to us by our school or

people that are affiliated with our

school. Sound familiar? Deep down

I know that each and every single

one of these emails is important to

me in some way or another, but

alas, I do not have the time to read

and respond to them all. Does that

also sound familiar? I feel especial-

ly helpless reading emails asking

for a sincere donation to whatever

causes a group or individual may be

raising money for. Unfortunately,

with the heavy burden of student

loans, we don’t have much money

to donate. In response, we prioritize

to whom we give our money to each

year. This year, and every year af-

ter, dental schools and students

across the country need to do a bet-

ter job of making sure that the

American Dental Political Action

Committee (ADPAC) is at the top

of everyone’s list.


http://www.azleg.gov

Volume 1, Issue 1

The American Dental Political Action Committee: Why Schools Need to

do a Better Job Making Students Aware of Their Importance continued

I was honored to be a first time at-

tendee to the 2013 Annual Session

hosted by the American Student Den-

tal Association in Atlanta, Georgia.

Everywhere I looked, the best student

leaders in the country surrounded me.

One of the opening presentations that

we were very fortunate to see was

one on ADPAC. ADPAC is single-

handedly the most important political

action committee in the field of den-

tistry. It’s main goal is to preserve

the integrity of our discipline as well

as to educate people about the link

between oral care and overall health.

This is accomplished by making sure

that we lobby our congress to pass

bills that will help our profession and

communities as a whole, and oppose

bills that will not.

As someone who considers himself

very politically charged, I was almost

embarrassed that I had not taken an

interest in ADPAC earlier. Among so

much more, ADPAC has advocated

and continues to advocate for:

Front line discussions on mid-

level providers. Midlevel

providers may put pa-

tients and the dental pro-

fession as a whole at seri-

ous risk!

Keeping our water fluori-

dated

Oral health assessments for

school children

Access to oral care for un-

derserved populations

Oral health Research

A stop on certain taxes and

fees on dental equipment

I had heard the name AD-

PAC maybe once or twice,

and probably received a few emails

about the group’s fundraising events

or learning seminars. Unfortunately,

like many students, taking the time to

learn about and eventually making a

donation to ADPAC was not high on

my priority list. This type of apathy

towards such a crucial organization

that is fighting for our futures as den-

tists is simply unacceptable.

Asking every dental school to make a

mandatory $5 contribution per stu-

dent won’t work because this is a po-

litical action committee…and as we

all know, anything that deals with

politics is simply a gray area. Even

mandatory ASDOH membership is-

n’t at every dental school (something

that immediately needs to be

changed!). To offer an analogy, peo-

ple don’t get to opt out of paying for

services such as having police offic-

ers and firefighters if they are quali-

fied to pay for it. These services in

turn help keep communities safe in

case if something goes wrong. AD-

PAC also offers a service that helps

keep its members, patients, and the

field of oral health safe. Their actions

are for the wellbeing of all its stu-

dents, whether they know it or not.

This is why I feel that we must do

more at our schools to educate our

classmates and incoming students on

its importance. By increasing aware-

ness about ADPAC we can not only

help raise more money, but we can

also inspire individuals in our field to

become more in touch with how poli-

tics directly affects the field of den-

tistry. I would ask that Deans of den-

tal schools across the country add a

brief but informative presentation to

their incoming student orientations

(when student attention is probably at

its highest) explaining ADPAC’s sig-

nificance. Current student dentists

and members of ADPAC can take

part in a student led presentation at

the beginning of every year while

students haven’t yet used up money

on things they don’t really need.

Along with giving students a website

or shooting them an email reminding

them to donate, we should hand out

donation cards/slips which can be

collected in a box kept in front of the

room. These are only a few ideas!

I’m aware that the membership in

ADPAC varies at different schools

just the same as it does in ASDA.

However, just like with ASDA mem-

bership, we should find creative new

ways to educate students on the im-

portance of ADPAC and how their

involvement can help make it an

even stronger organ-

ization.

~Amol Amin

ASDOH 2016’

The Lingual Groove

Legislation Affecting Dentistry Medicaid Expansion for Low-Income Adults

Reinstatement of Adult Emergency Dental Benefit

Abolish Use Tax on Clear Aligner products

Business Entities: Unethical Conduct

Reinstatement of Adult ER Benefits Reinstatement will put over $20 million

back into dentists’ offices and com-

munity clinics where patients can get proper

care instead of going to hospital emergency

rooms.

Business Entities: Unethical Conduct

Give Arizona State Board of Dental Examin-

ers (BODEX) the authority to charge a busi-

ness entity for interfering in the professional

judgment of licensed dentists. This addresses

How Can YOU Make a Difference With That Dental Degree?

~ Elizabeth

Rivers

ASDOH

2015’

The U.S. Public Health Service is

for those who want to gain life ex-

perience living in different places

while working as a dentist in under-

served communities. Entering the

service offers a massive amount of

career options that are dynamic and

fulfilling. The mission of U.S. PHS

is simple, but profound – to protect,

promote and advance the health of

the nation. This organization em-

phasizes an overall approach to

health care. This philosophy surely

resonates with ASDOH students.

The U.S. PHS is made of over 6,500

officers of different health profes-

sions with a total of 300 dentists in

commission corps and about 1000

dentists in civil service. There are

small (1 dentist) or large clinics

(~40 dentists!) available to work in.

Other benefits of the U.S. PHS in-

clude: flexibility in where you live,

loan repayment options (when

working with IHS $24,000 a year),

loads of experience in the clinics, 30

days paid vacation + 10 federal holi-

day vacations, housing compensa-

tion, paid maternity leave, free

health & dental care, malpractice

coverage, retirement (after 20 years’

service, retire at 50% of base pay

and after 30 years’ service, retire at

75% of base pay), savings plans,

humanitarian mission trips, and

more!


The Lingual Groove

How Can YOU Make a Difference With

That Dental Degree? continued

Another exciting aspect of joining

the U.S. PHS is to work on many

nation-wide projects to improve oral

health such as surveillance of caries,

sealants, tooth retention, implement-

ing Health People 2020 and the Oral

Health Initiative 2010 and improv-

ing health literacy. Your impact

with this organization would be far

reaching, needless to say. With one

license, you can work at any duty

station in the U.S. (except if you are

a tribal hire, in which case you must

be licensed in that state). How do

you get your assignment? You

CHOOSE. You FIND a job

opening and apply there. The

availabilities are posted

online. And how early should

you apply? One year in ad-

vance. It’s competitive, keep

that in mind! For more infor-

mation, visit usphs.gov. Please

note the information in this article

was gathered from the ASDA Annu-

al Session workshop presented by

William Bailey, Chief Dental Of-

ficer of the U.S. Public Health Ser-

vice.

~ Jessi Giles ASDOH ‘2016

“What’s the profession doing to

work on the access to care is-

sue?” asked Dr. Greg Loeben to a

classroom full of ASDOH students

during the last monthly Student Pro-

fessionalism and Ethics Committee

(SPEC) meeting. 50% of our na-

tion’s kids depend on Medicaid. Is

corporate dentistry a solution to the

access to care issue? It is a question

for you to consider.

Why is there

an access is-

sue in the

first place?

Simply put,

dental care is

too expensive

for a majority

of people. It

has been proposed that corporate

chains of dental offices can offer the

much needed care to those who are

presently without access.


Is Corporate Dentistry the Solution to the Access to Care Issue?

8th Annual Give Kids a Smile

The Lingual Groove

Is Corporate Dentistry the Solution to the Access to Care Issue? continued

Corporate dentistry is when an ex-

ternal source of money builds a

business and then employs dentists

to continue that business. There is

nothing wrong with the employment

of a dentist to gain a profit. The

potential problems of this arrange-

ment begin when the dentist-

patient relationship is attacked and

treatment plans become motivated

by increasing profits of the inves-

tors and not by the patient’s best

interests. For example, Dr. Loeben

informed us Medicaid reimburses

twice as much for a crown over a

filling. In too few words, corporate

dentistry may result in a conflict of

interests.

When considering which corporate

business to join, Dr. Loeben sug-

gested reflecting on which structure

is one where your morals won’t be

compromised. Studies have shown

people tend to be more compliant to

authority than we think. It is im-

portant to note that there are a lot of

people who have received excellent

care from corporate offices and the-

se people don’t speak up about their

care.

SPEC would love to hear your

thoughts on this topic! Feel free to

email me, Sam Bona or Scott How-

ell. Please join us for our next SPEC

meeting on April 24th during the

lunch hour in Flagstaff.

~ Jessi Giles ASDOH 2016’

This year Arizona School of Dentis-

try and Oral Health (ASDOH) held

its 8th annual Give Kids a Smile day

(GKAS). The event, held on Friday

February 15th, hosted children from

elementary schools throughout the

Phoenix area. This year’s turnout

was the largest Give Kids a Smile

site in the state with alumni, stu-

dents and faculty coming together to

provide 364 children with the dental

care they needed. Every student at

ASDOH proved an integral part of

the operation, from loading and un-

loading the buses, taking radio-

graphs, providing treatments, help-

ing run the clinics, as well as enter-

taining children in the waiting room

and post-operatively.

School buses started arriving at 8:30

am and by 9:00 the clinics were

filled with young patients waiting to

receive treatments

ranging from clean-

ings, extractions, op-

erative restorations,

endodontic work and

stainless steel crowns.

Post-treatment, the

children were led out-

side to a fun filled,

fair-like arena. There, they were met

with games, music, face-painting,

prizes and volunteers ready to quell

any dental fears.

The incredible success of this year’s

event was due to hard-work and

dedication demonstrated from all the

students, volunteers, faculty and

staff. The compassion for communi-

ty healthcare was extremely evident

through the enthusiasm and efforts

set forth by all the participants. Each

year, the

event

grows

stronger

with larger

numbers

of volunteers and higher numbers of

children being treated. Therefore, it

is exciting to see what the upcoming

years of GKAS will bring.

~ Masha Raykhman ASDOH 2015’

The Lingual Groove

Who Says Dental School Can’t Be Fun???

Asdoh Asda Lingual Groove Spring 2013 Rev1

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