This year the February observance of National Children’s Dental Health Month honors the 75th anniversary of community water fluoridation with its theme, “Fluoride in water prevents cavities! Get it from the tap!”

Nearly 49% of responding dental practices have experienced employee theft, and nearly 46% of those have experienced theft or embezzlement more than once, according to a survey conducted by the ADA Council on Dental Practice.

The Dental Quality Alliance will help dentists learn more about how quality measure domains can be best used to drive quality improvement at the practice level through a free webinar in March.

The international group SNOMED International honored ADA member dentist Dr. Mark Jurkovich with the Award of Excellence for spearheading the important work the ADA has done on SNODENT, the group announced Jan. 16.

It’s a conviction that was published in the November issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association and the basis for the October 2019 forum that Dr. Francisco Ramos-Gomez fostered, where dentists, physicians, nurses and public health and public policy experts proposed, discussed and recommended solutions for preventing early childhood caries through the lens of social justice, health equity and human rights.

The Duluth Dental Forum in northeastern Minnesota celebrated its 75th anniversary in late 2019, stating that it was the second-oldest study club of its kind in the United States.

A class action lawsuit alleging that a Florida dental practice sent unsolicited text messages in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Jan. 6.

The American Dental Association is asking Congress to pass the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act — legislation that would require all private group and individual health plans to cover medically necessary services that repair or restore congenital anomalies.

The last decade brought 236,658 attendees to the American Dental Association's annual meeting. The ADA will continue to build on that momentum with the ADA FDC Annual Meeting from Oct. 15-18 in Orlando, Florida.

There is an art to conveying just who you are at every stage of your dental practice. One minute you could be a single-dentist practice with a hygienist and a receptionist, and then, the next thing you know, you could have a group practice and maybe even several locations.

The University of California San Francisco School of Dentistry announced Jan. 30 it received a $10 million gift — the largest contribution ever to the dental school — to establish an endowment that would fun efforts to modernize its curriculum and recruit and retain faculty members.

Thanks to the advocacy efforts of the Missouri Dental Association, a managed care organization has agreed to remove an authorization tool it was requiring dentists to use prior to using sedation.

Dental service leaders met with the ADA Council on Government Affairs Jan. 25 in Washington to discuss legislative and regulatory issues.

The Indian Health Service is presenting a four-part series of messages focused on their younger patients’ oral heath in honor of the February observance of National Children’s Dental Health Month.

The ADA Council on Dental Education and Licensure launched in December an interactive map in an effort to assist dentists with keeping track of current initial licensure requirements by state.

The American Dental Association, along with 75 organizations, is urging Congress to support legislation to regulate vaping devices and liquids in the same manner the Food and Drug Administration regulates cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Dental spending reached $136 billion in 2018 — 3.7% of all health spending — and what the ADA Health Policy Institute is calling a “historic high” in the new HPI Industry Report released Feb. 4.

The American Dental Association’s Give Kids A Smile program will bring free oral health services to hundreds of thousands of children across the U.S. beginning Feb. 7.

Global Dental Relief, a nonprofit organization that has delivered free dental care to children around the globe since 2001, is seeking clinical volunteers for upcoming humanitarian missions in Nepal and Guatemala.

In light of the “emerging, rapidly evolving” outbreak of the novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reminding clinicians to use standard precautions consistently and advising they isolate patients who show signs and symptoms of the virus.

Following a ruling in federal court two days prior, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Jan. 25 that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule fee limitations do not apply to requests to transmit copies of records to third-parties.

Indianapolis -- Seven-year-old Jordan Randle made a big promise after visiting Give Kids A Smile for the first time during the national kickoff event Feb. 7 in Indianapolis.

The ADA Council on Dental Practice is encouraging dentists to acknowledge the dedication and contributions of their dental assistants during Dental Assistants Recognition Week.

PBHS, Inc. announced in January the launch of Consult Mode, an addition to ADA TV that enables dental providers to demonstrate 3D procedural animations, videos and tutorials chairside via tablets, iPads and other hand-held devices.

Dr. Bettie R. McKaig, who served as the Association’s first vice president from 1998-99, died Feb. 3. She was 70.

The ADA said it believes a new policy from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid could be “detrimental” to the millions of adults who rely on Medicaid for dental care.

Circulating levels of perfluorodecanoic acid, a type of perfluoroalkyl acid, may be associated with dental caries in children, according to a study published in the fall 2019 issue of the Journal of Public Health Dentistry.

Dr. Per Äke Zillen, executive director of the FDI World Dental Federation from 1989-2001, died Jan. 19 following a battle with cancer.

The ADA is hosting a free webinar in March on how to effectively advertise and market services and dental practices on Facebook and Instagram.

The American Dental Association is weighing in on two pieces of legislation aimed at streamlining billing procedures for patients.

The ADA Foundation will award up to three scholarships worth at least $11,000 each to dental students in 2020.

The deadline for abstracts for the upcoming National Summit on Smokeless Tobacco Prevention is Feb. 29.

Pledge to celebrate World Oral Health Day on March 20 with the rest of the sphere.

The American Dental Association is accepting submissions for awards that honor standards-based research.

It was a Give Kids A Smile event not only for the children of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians but also no fewer than 117 Indian Health Service dental programs across 24 states that were participating in GKAS with the events alone estimated to involve 14,000 American Indian/Alaska Native children.

A new California law is requiring dental benefit companies to be more transparent about the leasing of dental networks, making California the 20th state to pass or amend such legislation.

The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research is seeking comments on a proposed research initiative on dental fear and anxiety.

Results from a NYU College of Dentistry study suggest how excess fluoride exposure affects the cells forming tooth enamel — possibly explaining how dental fluorosis arises.

Formerly incarcerated people in the U.S. have worse oral health outcomes than those who have never been in prison, according to a study published in the March issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association.

The handout covers strategies for helping prevent the transmission of suspected respiratory disease in the dental health care setting and answers frequently asked questions related to the virus, based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Health Resources and Services Administration is hosting a virtual job fair March 4 from 6:45-10:15 p.m. ET. In addition, HRSA’s National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program is now accepting applications for 2020 through April 23.

Dr. David P. Cappelli, Ph.D., acknowledges that as providers, we don’t often understand difficulties that some patients face to receive needed dental care.

The deadline for submission of abstracts for the FDI World Dental Congress is March 25.

Registration opens April 22 for the ADA FDC Annual Meeting, which will offer a variety of learning and social opportunities for dentists and their teams to enjoy.

When Dr. Gil Rivera became a dentist, he had no idea his career would take him to the bloodied and bruised front lines of the NHL, but nearly 18 years later, he continues to treat the ravaged mouths of professional hockey players as the team dentist of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Dr. Martin Nweeia began researching narwhals in 2000. He came to the conclusion that the prevailing research available about the narwhal’s tooth — such as Charles Darwin’s belief that the narwhal’s tooth was a secondary sexual characteristic like an antler or a horn — was only part of the story.

ADA Practice Transitions, a service offered by the ADA focused on helping dentists make the process of joining or leaving a practice successful, is offering a free three-month trial.

The ADA Standards Committee on Dental Informatics has approved the technical report for circulation and comment.

The U.S. House of Representatives Feb. 28 passed a comprehensive bill designed to address the youth tobacco epidemic.