As a first year dental student, I certainly didn’t start out with a very firm grasp on what ASDA was and how it could help me to become a more informed and capable dentist. However, as I’ve progressed through my first year I have become more involved in ASDA and learned what a valuable asset it can be to us as dental students. This February, I had the privilege of being sent to Boston for the ASDA Annual Session. This trip was not only an extremely fun adventure; it was also HUGE in helping me to understand the scope of the organization. Upon returning from the ASDA session I felt like I had to share this experience with everyone! So here it is, the top 5 reasons that every ASDA member should put attending annual session on their dental school bucket list!

1. Networking with dental students from every other school in the country.

Besides making lots of friends, the great thing about meeting students from all over the country is that you tap into a powerhouse of opportunity and ideas. I’ve met upperclassmen that are pumped about service and outreach, as well as students that have recently survived what I’m trying to prepare for. Without fail, these students will have great ideas and experience to share.

You will meet students that seem to be living your same life while in another state. They will have great tips and experience to offer that will enrich your school experience. Whether you’re preparing for boards, or drilling your first preps it will be impossible to come away without great ideas.

One student I met was extremely excited about a bone marrow cheek swab drive she had recently organized to benefit a fellow student. This was interesting, but I didn’t fully comprehend the value in our meeting until several months later, when one of our own classmates was in need of the same help. All it took was one quick message, and we had an enthusiastic and experienced ally joined to our cause.

2. Discussion of issues affecting dentistry HERE and NOW.

We often hear about municipal water fluoridation debates or health-care reform measures, but as a dental student it’s easy to feel far removed from these issues, which are incredibly important to the future of our profession.

As a component of organized dentistry, a fundamental part of ASDA involvement is discussion of these issues with the end goal of establishing policy.Through this process we are able to fulfill our mission of pursuing resolutions which will be best for our profession and for our country’s oral health in the long term. Annual session is where a lot of this policy making begins. All attendees are invited to bring forward resolutions (essentially a legislative policy proposal) to be discussed and later voted upon. If passed, your resolution will be made official policy of one of the most well represented professional organizations in the country.

In addition to the policy making, annual session also offers a number of breakout sessions that cast light on a lot of today’s hot issues. Personally, I was able to attend one called “The State of Dentistry”, which discussed current economic trends & projections, specifically in the context of the ACA. What I learned was extremely pertinent to my future as a dentist and potential business owner. Such experiences are really what ASDA participation is all about.

3. Participation in national & district leadership elections.

This process is not just informative, it's simply one of the most fun things you will do at annual session. We are part of a district (District 9) that includes five different chapters (schools). We meet with another district (District 8) for a total of ten chapters present. (This is called a Caucus, but don’t get hung up on the terms right now).

Each school, or chapter, submits questions that will be asked individually to each candidate for the following positions:

National President

Speaker of the House

District Trustee

Our group is known for making this process fun, and a little irreverent! Odd challenges, word association, and serious questions all mesh into a wonderful, chaotic and loud demonstration. Come prepared with intelligent questions, but also your most awkward and embarrassing suggestions, this day will not disappoint!

4. Education opportunities not available in dental school.

The speakers that come to any national ASDA meeting are top notch. You will have a chance to hear from people like:

Neil Pasricha - New York Times bestselling author

Roger Crawford - Hall of Fame Division I athlete

Maxine Feinberg – President of the ADA

Chris Salierno - Nationally-recognized author and lecturer

Adam Braun - New York Times bestselling author

These presenters take your mind out of dental school and help you view your career with a long-term perspective. The information I gather in these meetings is always something I know will be applied in my future. This long-term perspective helps me feel motivated and energized every time.

5. AWESOME social events!

ASDA has so much to offer in regards to professional development and education, but rest assured, annual session is not just one long weekend of board meetings.

There are essentially two types of social events that you will enjoy at session, those that are district specific  and those that are organized by national ASDA. Our district trustees did a spectacular job of organizing luxurious dinners and/or open bars for us to enjoy almost every night. These events are a blast not only because they were delicious and elegant (one night we had a seafood buffet and open bar right on the water!), but they offer a more intimate atmosphere. It is thanks to these events that I was able to get to know so many other students from our local district.

The national events are awesome because they are super elaborate and all of the dental schools are represented at them. These events included the Gold Crowns, which honor chapters that did outstanding work over the last year (cough, cough, Colorado), and the Presidents Gala, which is essentially a really, really awesome party and the bittersweet conclusion of session.

The social aspect of session was not something that I expected, but it is definitely one of the most memorable highlights. I guarantee that you will catch ASDA fever after experiencing what we all experienced this year in Boston!

So, how do I get to Annual Session? You ask... Well, there are two ways. You can fund yourself, or you can be sponsored by the chapter.

The Colorado ASDA chapter will choose students to sponsor in a variety of ways. There may be an essay contest, or the attendee may be determined based on their ASDA Diamonds. The Colorado ASDA chapter awards “Diamonds” for participation in local events, each time you attend an activity, you will be awarded more diamonds. You can also earn diamonds when you write for our chapter blog, “The Colorado Quickset” or the new letter, “The CEJ”.

Often, being considered for Annual Session is as simple as showing up to all the ASDAwesome events held by our chapter all semester long. One thing many students will say, is that any way you get to Annual Session, it will be worth it! So do everything you can to be at ASDA’s annual session next year!

I have never been the type of person to be on student government or run for positions that required any sort of political understanding. Needless to say my knowledge about what we would be doing at National Lobby Day in Washington D.C. was at a minimum. I was chosen to go and figured that I would take more of a backseat approach, learning what it was like to be involved with ASDA at the national level while watching the experts do the lobbying, but I would do much more than that.

Monday was our first day in D.C., and it was spent entirely at the hotel. We had lectures, meetings, and breakout sessions that were all meant to be informative and help us in our lobbying efforts the next day. The two specific bills that we would be lobbying for were the H.R. 539: Dental Health Act and the H.R. 649: Student Loan Refinancing Act. H.R. 539 would allow programs like the Mission of Mercy (MOM) and Give Kids a Smile access to readily available funds ($15 million) from the CDC that they were previously not able to apply for. H.R. 649 would allow students to refinance their loans in the future if the federal student loan interest rate were to dip below what they had previously borrowed it for.

The morning was a mix of presentations on the details of both of these bills, what to focus on when speaking to legislators, and some presentations by different sponsors. We broke for lunch, where I had the opportunity to sit and eat with students from the University of New York at Buffalo along with the president of the ADA, Dr. Feinberg. Our afternoon session consisted of more presentations, mock meetings with legislators, and concluded with speeches by two dentists (now state representatives) from Texas. With that we broke for the day and were on our own. We met briefly as a group to discuss our tactics when meeting with legislators the following day, and then we were off to dinner.

The next day was an early one, with the buses scheduled to leave at 7:15am and our first meeting at 8:30. We had a busy day planned with seven meetings in all, the last one coming at three in the afternoon. Our first meeting was with Cory Gardner’s office, a senator from Colorado. We spoke with his aid for a bit about the two bills that we were advocating for. He was very receptive to what we had to say and the meeting was more relaxed than I expected, which reminded me of most of my dental school interviews; nervous at first, but merely conversational once I had settled in. We were lucky enough to have Cory Gardner stop in for a few minutes and hear what we had to say, even telling us about his experiences with COMOM. The first meeting of the day went really well, and we were off to a good start in our lobbying efforts.

Since we felt that having all seven of us in each meeting was a bit of overkill, we decided to approach the rest of the meetings as smaller groups, mostly consisting of three or four people. Another reason for this approach was that we were constantly walking the whole day, from house to the senate, senate to the house: it was a workout to say the least. Splitting into groups allowed us more time between meetings to make sure we were not late. We had six meetings scheduled for the rest of the day: a senator from Colorado, two senators from New Mexico, and three representatives from Colorado. Of these six remaining meetings, five of them went really well while one seemed like a complete disaster. All in all it seemed to be a pretty successful day that ended around 3:30 and with us heading straight to the airport from the senate building, back on a plane to Denver a mere 52 hours after we had arrived.

If you’ve read this far and are thinking to yourself, “this sounds like too much work, I’d want to at least do some exploring of D.C.”, you probably aren’t friends with me on ‘Snapchat’. The Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, and the National Museum of American History: these were just a few of the sites we got to see in our limited time in Washington. If you do know me personally then you probably saw most of these as low quality pictures from around D.C., showing just how much fun I got to have along with how much I learned while at National Lobby Day. This is something I hope to convey to you if you haven’t been involved much with ASDA, and it doesn’t have to be at the national level, nor a huge commitment. I encourage you to get involved in local events because they are a great networking experience, informative, and fun! All I know is that I would not have done it any differently and I’m so thankful to have been able to go.

 

Dental Lobby Day comes but once a year. Dentists from various districts throughout the state come together to share their opinions with their respective state Senators and State Representatives concerning bills that relate to dental interests and trepidations. We, as students, are invited to participate in this event, as our opinions and shining young faces can influence the decisions of Senators and Representatives and their support of these bills. The list of bills that were the hot topics this year are listed at the bottom of this article.

For those you of you who have never partaken in the Lobby Day experience, let me give you a brief synopsis of how it works…

The Schedule

7:45 a.m. Arrive at the state Capitol. Pass through security screening and proceed to the basement committee room.

• After paying a slightly absurd amount to park for this brief event (you will get reimbursed) you arrive at the State Capital building and walk through the entry security screening at any of the main entrance doors. After wandering around aimlessly for a few moments, you finally locate the hidden elevators and go down one level to the basement, where you proceed to the committee room. You pick up your color-coded folder filled with a list of talking points, legislator handouts, lobby cards, a name tag, and various reference materials including a map of the capitol and “Face Book” packets containing pictures of all of the members of the Senate and House. You enjoy a light Panera-catered breakfast and mingle with some of the familiar faces present, such as our very own Dr. Sessa.

8:00 a.m. The CDA will provide message training to discuss issues and messaging, and ask any questions. Groups are divided by their geographical location.

• This is basically to discuss and inform us on the issues we will be lobbying, and give us the opportunity to ask any questions. Then, according to the color of our folders (they are arranged by geographic location of the districts) we are broken into groups with a team leader. For example, my yellow folder was for the East Metro region of Colorado, and Dr. Karen Foster was my team leader.

9:00 a.m. Follow your group and group leader to the 2^nd floor lobby. Work with your team leaders to discuss dental issues.

• Everyone then heads upstairs to the Senate and House floor, and this is where the real “lobbying” and excitement begins. Lobbying literally is just that; you send in a lobby card where you have written the name of your respective Senator or Representative to the nice gentleman/woman guarding the doors into the Senate or House, these cards somehow are magically delivered to that person, then they come out to the lobby to hear you give your passionate speech concerning the topic of these pressing dental issues.
• Our group was lucky enough to be invited onto the Senate floor! Last year, I met a Senator named Bill Cadman who is from my very own hometown of Whitefish, Montana. So, I wrote his name on my lobby card and before I knew it, Senator Cadman was walking out the door holding my lobby card. Two really great things happened right then: #1 was that Bill remembered me. #2 was that Bill was apparently the newly elected President of the Senate. Neat! Bill then invited me, Annie Bielinski, Michael Murphy, and one of our baby pre-dental students that we had recruited into attending, to the Senate floor, where we sat on the perimeter of the room and watched the activity going on around us. And posed for a photo, of course. (See pic, I will email them). Bill then led us all through into his office, which was equipped with a speaker playing the discussions going on in the Senate floor. We sat in a circle and intermittently talked about the dental bills we were there to lobby, interspersed with topics varying from Paragliding, talking your way out of speeding tickets, skiing in Europe, and hearing about Bill’s various travel experiences. Hopefully Bill kept to his word and spread all of our extremely knowledgeable and convincing lobbying to the rest of the Senate.

9:45 a.m.: Switch to the lobby of the second chamber (Senate or House)

10:30 a.m.: Eat lunch with legislators and engage in more detailed conversations about dental issues

12:00 p.m. Depart the Capitol

This sums up our short, yet eventful, morning at the State Capitol. We mingled with some Senators, went onto the Floor of the Senate, sat and spoke personally with the president of the Senate, and met various dentists from throughout the state. Overall, Lobby Day is an incredible experience. It is an amazing opportunity to meet some very powerful and influential people and have an impact on legal processes that directly impact us and our future careers. I highly recommend that everyone partakes in this experience!

Lobby Day Hot Topics!

• Access to Care: Dental Provider Designation Systems (HB 1191)
  • Last summer, a dental insurer decided to implement a provider rating system that ranks dentists using a 1-3 star rating based only on cost of care. This bill is to regulate this designation program to include other factors, including quality of care, and patient demographics.
• Access-to-Care: Medicaid Reimbursement bill (HB 1151)
  • In 2013, the CDA launched the “Take 5” program to recruit dentists to enroll as Medicaid providers. However, Medicaid rates aren’t sustainable for dental practices. This bill is working towards better funding for Medicaid dental services.
• Access-to-Care: Loan Forgiveness (CDPHE Budget Request)
  • To provide for increased student loan forgiveness incentive packages to recruit dentists to serve in rural and underserved areas.
• Access-to Care: Incentives for Preceptors (no bill # yet)
  • Another step towards increasing dental access for rural and underserved areas, this bill is to increase opportunities for training in these areas by creating a provision of tax credit to preceptors.
• Scope of Practice: Minimizing Use of the Dental Team through ITR
  • This bill is to allow dental hygienists to do Interim Therapeutic Restorations (ITR), a procedure to stop decay on a temporary basis.

 

ASDA Annual Session. Home of the Gold Crown Awards and President’s Gala. Petri dish of isolated and cultured ASDA fever (and maybe laryngitis). Annual session is where you gather with 650 of your closest friends and fellow ASDA leaders in a hotel to share ideas, stories, and to elect the Board of Trustees. This year, our very own seahorse farmer gone chapter president, Christian Piers, ran for, and was elected president of national ASDA.

So you may be thinking…. okay cool, being president is AWESOME, but what exactly does that mean?

Long story short, being ASDA President means it is your goal to fight for the issues presented by a body of 22,000 dental students. To put this in perspective, that represents about 95% of ALL dental students across our country. The president serves as the head of the board of trustees (which now also contains Colorado's Kyle Larsen), a group representing leaders from each geographic district voting on issues plaguing dental students, such as student debt and licensure. ASDA serves as the little brother of the American Dental Association (ADA), and the president works hand in hand with the ADA to better the future of our profession.

Running for president requires all the things you might expect; a candidate should have a strong CV, a platform for the issues they plan to address, a great speech, stunning good looks and a charming personality. It also requires many things you might not expect. As I mentioned earlier, ASDA is divided into geographic groups called districts. Districts are joined together to form a caucus. Candidates go on a parade through each caucus where they are asked questions ranging from explaining ASDA policy to showing a demonstration of their twerking ability. ASDA really brings out your true colors. Each caucus has its own personality. Some are very serious where candidates are interrogated. Others more fun, where candidates can expect to perform their greatest dance moves. This gives each candidate an opportunity to demonstrate their potential beyond their skills on paper and public speaking ability. After all, who wants a president that can’t dance? Meanwhile, candidates spend every spare minute (and time dedicated to sleeping) on meeting as many new people as they can.

Supporters of Christian might say that this sounds like something Christian would excel at. Well friends, he dominated. The following day, each dental school had an opportunity to cast votes for their top 3 choices to make up the executive committee (EC) that consists of 2 vice presidents and 1 president. Our ballots were cast and eventually we learned that Christian was in the top 3 and would be serving on the EC. Each candidate was then given the opportunity to answer just a few more questions by who is now the immediate past president so that each school could vote on their top individual. Christian Piers was announced as the new president of ASDA, where he was promptly pinned and photographed.

My personal role in campaigning was to ensure safe transportation home from the various district events. Needless to say, navigation on foot in an unknown city is not in my skill set. Fortunately our fearless leader Christian recognizes that a cobblestone onramp is in fact a road for vehicles and not a sidewalk, adding 'sense of direction' to the list of talents our favorite seahorse farmer possesses.

So what can we expect from Christian Piers? His primary issues to tackle are licensure reform, student debt, and midlevel providers. ASDA has been pushing to eliminate live patient exams for a while now and Christian hopes to fight to reform licensure, so that our ability to practice dentistry does not depend on using our patients in an unethical exam. Additionally he hopes to work on student loan reform to not only lower interest rates, but also expand our options to repay our astronomical debts. Finally he hopes to address the issue of midlevel providers, something that could influence how we practice dentistry and undermine our education and knowledge as dentists. For more information on these topics, see the link at the end of this post.

We are so fortunate that Christian Piers will not only be advocating for us future as dentists, but also that he will continue spreading ASDA fever through our local chapter. If you see him around, give him a handshake, a high five, or a hug. Warning: any physical contact with Christian might cause ASDA fever and there are no known preventative vaccinations or treatments.

Congratulations Christian Piers, the world is your seahorse

If you’d like to learn more about Christian’s platform, and information on each subject he plans to address, please visit: http://www.asdanet.org/uploadedfiles/Events/elections/2015/Christian%20Piers%20EC%20Platform%202015.pdf.

This past October, I attended the ASDA National Leadership Conference.  Having recently been elected the ASDA Alternate Delegate for my class, I was sincerely excited and curious about this conference.  I knew I would be surrounded by others who shared my same enthusiasm about ASDA and my commitment to enhancing our dental school experience and future profession. Given my legal background, I am particularly interested in ASDA’s and the ADA’s role in legislative and legal issues regarding dental school education and the dental profession.  While I thought I had a good grasp of the issues regarding the profession, at the conference, I learned so much more about the various nuances within the law that affect dentists. I was thoroughly impressed by the commitment of ASDA and ADA to advocate on our behalf. For this blog post, I wanted to highlight three areas regarding the law and dentistry that were large topics of discussion at the conference.

1)  Pending U.S. Supreme Court Case about Dental Boards and Anti-Trust

Recently, the United States heard oral arguments for North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission.  This case hinges upon whether the NC Board of Dental Examiners has the authority to send warning letters to non-dentists who offer dental services, such as teeth whitening.  For this case, the FTC is concerned that the Board is engaging in antitrust behavior.  The pivotal issue in this case is whether the Board of Dental Examiners is considered “private", as anti-trust laws only apply to private entities. While the NC Board of Dental Examiners is considered a public entity, the FTC argues that it is comprised of dentists who primarily make their living as private dentists, and thus, they are also affected by the market that they are attempting to regulate. The ADA submitted an Amicus Curiae brief to the Supreme Court for this case.  An Amicus Curiae brief is essentially an opinion of a third party that is not directly involved in the case but has a substantial interest in the outcome.  The final decision should be issued sometime in 2015. You can view the ADA’s brief here.

2)  Student Loans

The accumulation of significant student loans is a large source of stress for dental students.  While the rising costs of tuition are often unavoidable, ASDA and the ADA are advocating for students and recent graduates from a tax standpoint.  Currently, most dentists’ incomes are too high to have a student loan interest deduction on their taxes.  The ADA is actively lobbying the federal legislature to completely eliminate this income cap.  This way, interest on federal student loans can be considered a tax deduction, which can potentially save dentists up to thousands of dollars each year. To take action on Student Loans through ASDA's Action Site, Engage, CLICK HERE.

3)  Dental Mid-Level Providers

Unlike Colorado, other states in the country are allowing “mid-level” providers to provide some basic, yet irreversible dental procedures in order to increase access to dental care.  ASDA and the ADA are very concerned about this, as it allows individuals with less than four years of dental training to perform procedures that can permanently affect a patient’s tooth.  Additionally, the addition of mid-level providers dilutes the dental profession in these states, which can have a substantial impact on the quality of dental services and the salaries for dentists. ASDA seeks to ensure that only dentists provide irreversible dental procedures to patients.

These three issues are just some highlights of the myriad of issues and work that ASDA and the ADA do on our behalf.  In addition to attending the legislative sessions, I attended marketing, financial, and other sessions which my colleagues have already highlighted. This conference confirmed to me that ASDA is really looking out for us. I certainly caught the “ASDA fever”!

When you hear the word "law" what first comes to mind?  A statue of justice blind and holding scales?  That time you went to court to serve on a jury? Marathoning Law and Order SVU with your favorite crime busting cop team?  Have you ever thought about how law might affect dentistry?  On November 5th Colorado ASDA learned just how the law and dentistry intersect and what we need to be aware of as dentists and dental students moving forward.

Troy Rackman Esq. (that means he's a lawyer for all you lay-people) visited Colorado ASDA to give a presentation about Dental law and new bills and laws recently passed on the state and local levels that impact dentists.

Troy first discussed how dental laws are monitored and instituted.  Having political representation is one of the most important things dentists can do to have the right laws retained and implemented.  The department of regulatory agencies, DORA, is responsible for licensing and regulating dentists as well as monitoring them to insure the safety and fair treatment of all patients.  You can visit the Colorado state dental board page here, and to see a list of all state dental boards click here.

The first thing to recognize is where dentistry and the law actually intersect.  Unfortunately the first topic that comes to mind is dentists being sued for malpractice.  While this is a very visible way in which dental practice meets with law, it is not the only way.  Law is not there to punish and restrict dentists.  Law is also involved in dentistry to protect patients, standardize care, and provide a means to enact change in the dental laws.

In terms of malpractice and fearing the law many dental students were given hope and a positive outlook.  Dentists are unique in their profession in that only dentists can be dentists.  Meaning, according to the law, no person can simply decide they want to be a dentist and compete.  An accountant or carpenter cannot open shop claiming to fix teeth without first going through dental school and a rigorous dental licensing procedure.  See Colorado ASDA's (and ASDA editor in chief) Christian Piers' article on dental licensure for more information.

Dental students also don't have to be as concerned about being sued and found guilty of malpractice as they may be. The facts are that dentists win 9 out of 10 malpractice suits brought against them.  Not only that but individual dentists are better protected than corporations.  It is very unlikely that a jury of our peers will convict an individual dentist who did his best and tried to follow the rules.  What is more likely is that a dental corporation would be found guilty or be penalized. Juries typically do not view corporations fondly in any situation and dentistry is no different.  Similar to how many people like their congressman but hate Congress, most people like or at least respect their individual dentist, the person, but hate the corporation.

The law is also in place to help the dentists that make up the profession make modifications and changes to their profession that benefit both the patient and the professional. Recently in Colorado, a Sunset review of the dental Board was passed to allow certain modifications to the current dental practice.  The Bill addressed topics from expanded duty assistants to anesthesia and continuing education.  Because the CDA was legislatively involved and proactive with the legal system Colorado dentists were able to effectually and efficiently alter the laws surrounding their practice to better the profession.  These changes provide better care for patients, better education for providers, and protection/ security for the profession moving forward.

It was evident through the discussion of dentistry and the law that being represented politically is a very important, yet sometimes overlooked in dentistry.  Malpractice is urgent but representation and legal knowledge is paramount to the success of dentistry.  Dentists are well represented both nationally and locally and ADPAC plays a major role in that.  Troy made it clear that having a political action committee to represent the dentist is vital.  The actions of ADPAC have protected dentists and will continue to moving forward because dentists are represented.  There have been many cases where legislative action was moving in a negative direction for dentists and political action was taken in time to prevent damage to the practice of dentistry.

The Sunset review of the Dental Board provides a tangible real world example where the legal system and dentistry collide.  Check out the Sunset review in more detail here. Because dentists are educated and invested in their profession, they are involved legislatively to protect dentistry for the future moving forward.  Having a "run in with the law" does not have to be a bad thing, in fact it can mean the difference between an informed provider and an oblivious "driller and filler".  Staying up-to-date on current political events and legislative reform is vital for the modern dentist.  Know how the law and the legislative process are impacting you and your future. Involve yourself with ADPAC, align yourself with your local dental association, and stay informed for the sake of the dental profession.

~Chris Klekamp, Class of 2016, Colorado ASDA Legislative Liaison

 

If you want to practice dentistry, you need to have a license. And if you want to have a license, you should read this post.

You need to complete three requirements (educational, written, and clinical) to get a dental license. You can fulfill the educational component by graduating from a dental school accredited by CODA (the Commission on Dental Accreditation), and complete the written requirement by passing NBDE Parts I and II as administered by JCNDE (the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations). The clinical component is where things get tricky.

There are five regional testing agencies that administer these clinical exams:

Council of Interstate Testing Agencies (CITA)

Central Regional Dental Testing Services (CRDTS)

North East Regional Board of Dental Examiners (NERB)

Southern Regional Testing Agency (SRTA)

Western Regional Examining Board (WREB)

Each of these agencies gives a separate, subtly different examination, and those exams are all accepted by different sets of states. In other words, no one exam is accepted by all 50 states. So you need to figure out where you want to practice. Once you’ve done that (no big deal), go to the ADA list of state dental boards and click on the relevant state dental board’s website. There you can figure out which clinical licensure exams are accepted by your dream state.

But is this the way it has to be?   ASDA doesn’t think so. The association’s formal position on licensure is outlined in ASDA’s L1 policy, which you can read at http://asdanet.org/licensure/.   (If you’d prefer a more audiovisual experience, check out this video of Colleen Greene, 2012-13 national ASDA president.)

Here’s the big highlight: ASDA doesn’t support the use of live patients in clinical licensure exams.   Instead, the second half of its L1 policy presents these alternatives:

• “Initial licensure without an independent clinical licensing examination. Graduates of a U.S. CODA-accredited dental school should be eligible for initial licensure without taking any additional clinical examination.
• A portfolio-type clinical examination based on cases compiled during the final year of dental school. Such an examination should require a standardized catalog of required clinical procedures and the portfolio should be evaluated by an examiner independent of the dental school. (Currently under development in California.)
• A non-traditional patient based clinical licensure examination. Although ASDA does not support the use of live patients in traditional clinical licensing examinations, the association recognizes the potential for creation of an ethical, patient-based examination.
• An Objective Structured Clinical Examination designed to evaluate a candidate’s diagnostic and treatment planning skills. (Currently accepted in Minnesota.)
• Completion of a one-year postgraduate residency program. Completion of a U.S. CODA-accredited postgraduate program that has a minimum duration of one year should be sufficient to substitute for the clinical licensure examination requirement in any jurisdiction.” (Currently mandated in New York; accepted in Washington, Minnesota, California and Connecticut.)

This desire for alternatives springs from concerns about the ethics and accuracy of the current exams. To outline those facts, ASDA is drafting a licensure “white paper,” which is a document intended to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. It’s also working to eliminate live-patient licensure examinations at the state level through work with state dental associations, state dental boards, state legislators, and national dental organizations.

The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) has also formed a task force to report back to its 2015 House of Delegates with recommendations about how to help dental schools transition from patient-based clinical examinations to an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). We’re excited to hear those recommendations in March 2015.

In the meantime, the licensure reform process is moving forward, and the state-by-state requirements for licensure continue to evolve-- so make sure to check back with your state dental board's website as your exam date approaches!  Does all that make sense?  Don't worry if it doesn't!  It’s easy to get lost in the forest of jargon and acronyms surrounding licensure, so make sure to post your questions in the comments section below!

~Christian Piers, Class of 2016, Colorado ASDA President

Many components have an effect on the profession and the day-to-day life of dentists, including changing technology and educational requirements, among others.  An often under-looked component regarding the dental profession, that may affect dentists and future dentists substantially, is the changing landscape of state and federal laws that impact the dental profession.

In most respects, state laws and policies have the most direct impact on dentists; the state regulates dentists who practice within it.  In Colorado, the State Board of Dental Examiners, a regulatory board under the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), bears the authority for dental regulation.  The State Board of Dental Examiners is subject to the “Sunset Process”, meaning that the Board’s existence terminates if the state legislature does not act to continue the board by a certain date, usually after an extensive review of and often with modifications to how they operate.

The Colorado legislature completed its sunset review of the State Board of Dental Examiners earlier this year and voted to continue the Board through September 1, 2014 (Colorado House Bill 14-1227).  It also made changes to the Dental Practice Law of Colorado, many of them administrative or technical, but it also included changes which have a tangible impact on dentists.  For example, one change addresses discipline for certain, unauthorized anesthesia usage on patients; another change mandates 30 hours of continuing education, every 2 years, for dentists and dental hygienists.

The Colorado legislature implemented the changes, largely based on recommendations from DORA itself and other interested parties, such as the Colorado Dental Association.  One recommendation that the legislature did not address in its completed sunset review, however, was a recommendation from DORA to address potential alternatives for the clinical component of dental licensure testing.  In its recommendation to the legislature, DORA specifically requested the legislature to “Revise the clinical examination requirement to allow the Board to accept other methods of evaluating clinical competency….” In its recommendation, DORA noted that “[t]he notion that a clinical examination can be something other than a one-time, high-stakes examination performed on a real patient is gaining broader acceptance…the General Assembly should expand the law to allow the Board, at its discretion, to accept alternate methods of evaluating clinical competency…” (The entire DORA recommendation is available HERE.)

Despite DORA’s recommendation, the Colorado legislature failed to address changing certain clinical examination requirements.  The Colorado legislature may address this in a future piece of legislation; however, it is also possible that the legislature will not address this until the next sunset review deadline, around 2023.  If the Colorado legislature addressed this recommendation by DORA, the proposed changes to the clinical examination process would surely be in students’ best interest, as it could expand the opportunities for licensure applicants to demonstrate their clinical acumen.

This recent sunset review of the Colorado Board of Dental Examiners demonstrates how the law and legislature may have a large impact on our careers.

~Becky Bye, JD, Class of 2018, Colorado ASDA Alternate Delegate