Leadership: Serve as a Council or Committee Member

Serving in leadership is your opportunity to take a leadership role in dentistry and make a difference at your district or state level. You also will benefit from networking with colleagues and discussing current clinical and management issues that affect your practice and the dental profession — give it a try.

• Camaraderie                        • Support network
• Develop friendships               • Dentist-to-dentist relationships

Volunteering provides an opportunity to work and interact with your peers. An Association with the greatest and most diverse member participation is often resilient and strong.  Arizona’s Dental Association is looking for a few good men and women to shape the future of their organization. Council and Committee members are sought on a Component and or State level.  Inquiries may be made by filling out the response form below, indicating your interest and that you would like more information and/or want to be considered for Council or Committee membership.

Adopt a Legislator

The goal of the “Adopt a Legislator” Program is to educate state lawmakers on oral health care issues by developing personal relationships with local AzDA members in their Districts, or having the members further develop an existing personal relationship they may already have in their community.  Legislators are always looking for input from constituents on a wide variety of issues, since they have a great deal of information to absorb each session.  AzDA members are contacting their Legislators as a Constituent, and will be responsible for directly communicating AzDA’s official position on oral health care issues, and working in a supportive way with AzDA’s Executive Director and contract lobbyist. 

The members of the Arizona State Legislature live and work in your communities.  You may have one of them as your patient.  It is also likely that you may be acquainted with them as you travel around your town or your neighborhood, or you may know them from your Church, Synagogue or civic clubs.  The success of the Arizona Dental Association’s legislative initiatives depend on the one on one relationships that Legislators develop with our member dentists in the communities they serve.  Our staff, leadership and lobbyists can’t be everywhere—but you can be AzDA’s voice in communities throughout Arizona.

Adopting a Legislator means “checking up” at least twice a year (making sure you get in that six-month recall visit) and making an effort to be a part of Dental Day at the Capitol in February.  Educate our lawmakers as you become their source on what’s important to the dental community and advancing the oral health of all Arizonans.

AzDA members need to step up.  To volunteer and adopt one, two or all three of these members of the Arizona Legislature in your District, contact Executive Assistant Jan Jepson at jan@azda.org.

Central Arizona Dental Society’s Mission of Mercy

Central Arizona Dental Society’s Mission of Mercy will prove to be the largest charitable dental event in Arizona history, and will deliver needed dental care to more than 2,000 patients over two days on December 7 & 8, 2012 at the Veteran’s Coliseum on the State Fairgrounds. The Arizona Mission of Mercy, engenders a new level of professionalism by countless dentists and demonstrates the tremendous unmet need for dental care to policy makers. By volunteering you bring help to those who struggle every day to put food on the table, to pay rent and ultimately to have proper healthcare. These people truly need your help. In return, most volunteers remark that volunteering at a Missions of Mercy project is a life-changing, heartwarming experience that they look forward to doing over and over. Your service at the Central Arizona Dental Society’s Mission of Mercy event also highlights the continued problem of access to care to the citizens, legislature, and leaders of Arizona and reaffirms the Arizona Dental Association is the leading voice of dentistry and oral health in the state. 

This free donated dental clinic is funded entirely through corporate and individual donations, and staffed by over 1500 volunteers, including over 300 dentists. Whether making a financial contribution or donating your time, the Central Arizona Dental Society’s Mission of Mercy is an opportunity to have a positive effect on an individual’s life. For more information, or to volunteer, click here. 

Dental Day at the Arizona Capitol

Every February you can join us for “Dental Day at the Capitol”, an opportunity for you to talk one on one to your legislator and express your opinions on an array of legislation affecting access to care, oral health, and dental practice issues. Members who have “Adopted a Legislator” (see above) are strongly encouraged to attend.

Breakfast and lunch is provided and volunteers are able to observe various activities on the Senate or House Floor. The day usually wraps up by 2:00PM. 

Give Kids a Smile (GKAS)

Give Kids a Smile is our most ambitious ongoing project and run through AzDA not for profit arm, the Arizona Dental Foundation. Since 2000, 10,000 children aged 6-12 received almost $3 million in donated care. AzDA member dentists partner with local schools and community groups throughout the state to identify children whose parents cannot qualify for dental care. ADF’s major access to care campaign results in  volunteer dental professionals providing free restorative care consisting of fillings, crowns, extractions and yes, even root canals.

Here are some startling facts about access to dental care in Arizona:

• About 51 million hours of school are lost each year due to dental problems.
• 31% of Arizona children have never had a dental check-up.
• Of 22 states with oral health data, Arizona ranks third highest (almost 39%) in the proportion of third grade children with untreated tooth decay. 
• AHCCCS/Medicaid dental reimbursement rates are approximately 50% below what it costs to provide treatment.
• For every $10 spent on prevention of oral health problems, an estimated $8-$50 can be saved in restorative and emergency treatment. 
• Only about half of Arizona's population receive fluoridated water and are lacking in preventable transmission and repair of dental caries.

Donated Dental Services (DDS)