‘…the challenge with ADA Cares, a public awareness campaign on dental-office safety

geared to eliminate barriers to care. In 1994, a second poll indicated that consumer
confidence was up, with 61 percent of respondents believing that the dental office was
safe. Last year, the Public Relations Society of America recognized the effectiveness Of
ADA Cares with the Silver Anvil Award-one of the most prestigious awards in public
relations.

- The ADA also promoted National Children's Dental Health Month in conjunction with
the 50th anniversary of water fluoridation in February. Nearly 4,000 planning kits and
400,000 posters were sent to dental societies throughout the country to help members get
kids fired up about dental care. Seven hundred television stations nationwide also
received a video news release on NCDHM.

- In 1995, the ADA prepared oral health sections that appeared in Good Housekeeping
and Time magazines, reaching a potential audience of more than 13 million people. Since
1990, the ADA Council on ADA Sessions and International Programs has encouraged
dentists and dental staffers to share their expertise with their counterparts in
underdeveloped countries through the Dentistry Overseas Division of Health Volunteers
Overseas. The Council produces a publication called International Dental Volunteer
Organizations: A
Guide to Service and a Directory of Programs, with up-to-date information on
volunteering and a list of organizations needing volunteers.

- In 1995, seven program sites received 37 dental volunteers.

- Volunteers completed an oral health survey in Guyana and provided local participants
with what they need to conduct their own surveys in the future.

- Ten people participated in the dental section of the annual HVO orientation workshop,
which prepared them for future service with Dentistry Overseas.

GUARDIAN OF THE
PROFESSION AND PUBLIC

The Association also engages in a wide range of activities aimed at maintaining

dentistry's status
as a respected health profession dedicated to the well-being of its patients. Scientists from
the ADA
Division of Science, including the Paffenbarger Research Center, presented 20 papers at
the American Association for Dental Research meeting, held
in San Antonio last March. Studies included topics such as mechanical properties of
mercury- free restorative materials, shear bond strength of dentin and size distribution of
particles in dental wastewater.

- The Association's House of Delegates approved a dozen new parameters of dental

practice in October 1995, adding to the 12 adopted in 1994. These parameters dealt with
conditions such as dental abrasion, traumatic displacement of teeth and soft tissue lesions
and are being distributed to members as a supplement to this issue of JADA.

- Last year, an expert panel was assembled -including representatives from government
agencies, private practice dentistry and the research and industrial
communities-to examine ways to improve the water quality in dental unit waterlines.

- Since 1930, the ADA has maintained its Seal of Acceptance program as a benefit to the
profession and public. Before a product can bear the seal, manufacturers must submit an
application and the product must pass safety and efficacy evaluations. Last year the ADA
granted seals to more than 49 new products, bringing the total of consumer and
professional products bearing the seal to approximately 1,300.

- The Communications division helped coordinate Association-wide promotion of the

ADA Seal. Launched at an annual session press conference in Las Vegas,
the campaign includes media kits, a satellite media tour, a video news release, a new
brochure on the seal and a special reproducible insert in the Oct. 23, 1995, issue of ADA
News.

- In 1995, the ADA's Health Foundation approved three New Dental Scientist Awards
from a field of six recent fellows of NIDR's Dentist Scientist Program. Each dentist
received a grant of $5,000 to pursue dental research projects.

- A new award, The Frederick S. McKay Award for Excellence in Preventive Dentistry,
was established with support from Accutron. The first award was presented to Dr. Larry
Coffee of the National Foundation of Dentistry for the Handicapped. Dr. Coffee was
recognized for his role in developing access programs for the disabled.

- The Commission on Relief Fund Activities, in tandem with the state society relief
funds, provides financial assistance to dentists who are no longer able to be self-
supporting because of accidental injury, advanced age or physically debilitating illnesses.
Dentists need not be ADA members to apply for assistance.
34 JADA, Vol. 127, January 1996

As of July 1, 1995, 94 dentists had received grants totaling $653,775.

- The ADA oversees several charitable programs through the ADA Endowment and
Assistance Fund, Inc. Programs provided through the Endowment Fund include loans to
cover treatment expenses associated with chemical dependency, loans to facilitate
retraining of dentists who have become disabled, a disaster-assistance loan program and
various scholarship programs that award grants to dental, minority dental and allied
dental health students. Since the inception of the scholarship programs four years ago, the
Endowment Fund has awarded 360 scholarships totaling $559,000.

COMNMITTED TO THE
FUTURE
Beyond dealing with issues facing dentistry today, the Association also keeps an eye on
where dentistry is headed in the future. This requires maintaining close connections with
dental students and new dentists.

- Last year, the ADA Division of Membership Services, through its office on student
affairs, kicked off a plan to establish a permanent link between dental students and
organized dentistry. The plan involves joint membership activities with the American
Student Dental Association, as well as gathering information on dental student needs and
concerns through surveys, the first of which was mailed to more than 6,000 students and
was completed in June. The ADA, along with state and local dental society
representatives, made presentations to 2,100 senior dental students at 29 dental schools
across the country in 1995.

- Through the ADA's Committee on the New Dentist, the

Division of Membership and Dental Society Services expanded the new dentist
committee network from 80 to 115 committees nationwide-and in August hosted the
Ninth National Conference on the Young Dentist.

- The 1995 ADA House of Delegates voted at annual session to boost student
representation to from one delegate up to five.

- The Paffenbarger Research Center received a gift of $30,000 from the Great-West Life
and Annuity Insurance Co. to fund a Research Training Fellowship.

MEMBER BENEFITS

Being an ADA member also has direct benefits-including discounts on hotel rooms, low-
cost insurance and the ADA 1 PLAN, one of the most comprehensive financial services
programs in the country.

- In 1995, ADAFINCO, a for-profit subsidiary of the ADA, teamed up with Mellon Bank
Corp. of Pittsburgh to establish the ADA 1 PLAN. Some of the services under the plan
include:
* A Gold Mastercard that features no annual fee and a low six-month introductory annual
percentage rate;

* Loan programs that include student loans, federal HEAL consolidation loans, home
mortgage loans and home equity lines of credit;

* Investment opportunities like certificates of deposit and money market accounts as well
as investment consulting.

- In 1995, the Division of Conference and Meeting Services booked more than 12,000
nights at discounted rates for ADA members visiting Chicago for meetings, personal
business or vacation.
- The Council on Insurance added three new investment options to the ADA Members
Retirement Program last year. These include the MFS Emerging Growth Fund, which has
waived its front-end load (the fee charged to buy into a fund), as well as two asset
allocation funds that are designed to reflect the performance of major market indexes.
The retirement program now holds more than $1 billion in savings of members and their
employees. It also is open to non-participating members who want to invest money
currently held in other tax-qualified retirement plans.

- The ADA Members group insurance plans offered coverage at their lowest rates ever in
1995. Dentists seized on the opportunity by increasing their disability and overhead
expense coverage and adding more than $1.2 billion of additional life insurance.
To help dentists and their families better protect themselves against rising medical care
costs, the ADA In- Hospital Plan reduced rates by 10 percent and added benefits for
emergency room care.

IT JUST MAKES SENSE

As many dentists already know, membership in the ADA just makes good sense.
Successful collaboration with selected constituent and component societies over two
years resulted in a 26.4 percent improvement in membership retention. The Association
also has seen an increase in the representation of young, female and minority dentists on
dental society membership committees across the country…

36 JADA, Vol. 127, January 1996

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