From ASDA

One Month until Advocacy Month 2024!

Advocacy Month is less than a month away. That means you have less than 31 days to sign up for text alerts so you can participate in all the text challenges. There will be a lot of fun fact trivia this year- you certainly don’t want to miss your chance to win prizes!

There's Still Time to Participate in the Donut Forget to Vote Challenge

The competition will wrap up October 31.

That means your ASDA chapter still has time to host a Donut Forget to Vote event to ensure ASDA members are registered to vote in time for the election. Even if you are already registered to vote, you can still fill out the form to help your chapter win!

The three chapters with largest percent of voters registered will receive Amazon gift cards to be used at a future advocacy event.

The ASDA Molar Bear Could be Coming Home to Your Chapter

Chapters interested in taking home a molar bear can fill out the form to pick up a molar bear at ASDA’s National Leadership Conference during the Dental Marketplace.

This means that the molar bear could be at your advocacy events year-round! Talk to your chapter leaders to ensure they fill out the registration form by Oct. 28. Molar bears will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Limited quantities are available!

From Washington

Bill Introduced to Expand Access to Care

On Sept. 17, Rep. Debbie Dingell introduced the Comprehensive Dental Care Reform Act of 2024. The bill would increase dental care coverage for individuals 65 and older, lower-income Americans and veterans. If adopted the legislation would do the following:

Make dental care an essential health benefit under the Affordable Care Act
Increase reimbursement rates for oral health procedures under Medicaid
Include a dental benefit in Medicare
Increase funding for health clinics and school-based dental services

This is a companion bill to the Senate bill that was introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders in May.

Judge Orders EPA to Review Risks of Fluoride in Drinking Water

On September 24, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review regulations for fluoride in drinking water. The judge sided with advocacy groups stating that fluoride posed an unreasonable risk to children.

“Given the seriousness of reduced IQ, and the ample support in the record that the United States population is at risk of experiencing IQ decrements of over four IQ points, the severity of the hazard at issue weights in favor of finding the risk at issue unreasonable,” wrote Judge Chen.

Judge Chen did stress that was not concluding with certainty that fluoridated water endangered public health.

The ADA released a statement on September 25, reaffirming its support for community water fluoridation.

As noted in ASDA’s I-1 policy, the association encourages the fluoridation of community water supplies at optimal levels as determined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ASDA supports the use of fluoridated products as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From the States

Illinois Adopts Teledentistry Bill

Illinois Governor J.B Pritzker signed SB2586 into law which expands the use of teledentistry in the state. The bill aims to expand access to care throughout the state.

To utilize teledentistry in the state, dental health professionals must ensure that patients must be patients of record and give consent before receiving treatment.

ASDA supports ADA's policy on teledentistry. Learn more here.

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