Category: ODA Today

A child receives an exam at last year's Give Kids A Smile kick-off event. This year, Ohio will feature two GKAS kick-off events - one at the Dental Center of Northwest Ohio Van Wert Smiles location and a second event at The Ohio State University Give Kids A Smile is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. As the national event ... [continue reading]

About 10 years ago, Stephanie Isaac went to the dentist to have some work done on her teeth. After the procedure, she was given a prescription for a 30 day supply of Percocet. “I started taking them and immediately began abusing them,” Isaac said. “I would go back to him and get more prescriptions until he eventually cut me off, ... [continue reading]

Past and present ODA Foundation trustees gathered at the 2016 ODA Annual Session to celebrate the Foundation reaching a milestone of having awarded more than $1 million in grants and scholarships. In 2016, the ODA Foundation reached a milestone of having awarded a total of more than $1 million of funding to dental students through scholarships and ... [continue reading]

Dr. Don Bowers (center) at the 2012 ODA Annual Session, with OSU Dean Patrick Lloyd and ODA Executive Director David Owsiany Dr. Donald Bowers, a past editor at the Ohio Dental Association, passed away at age 81 on Dec. 14, 2016, according to an obituary on www.legacy.com. Bowers graduated from the OSU College of Dentistry as a ... [continue reading]

Wilmington, Ohio, voters decided on Election Day to fluoridate their water. Almost 57 percent of voters said “yes” Nov. 8 to a ballot question that asked whether the city of about 12,500 should join eight other communities in Ohio that originally opted out of a state fluoridation mandate in 1970, but have since reconsidered and voted ... [continue reading]

The month of January marks a definitive break, and reset in so many ways. Janus, the Roman god, was the god of beginnings and doorways. His two faces reminded the Romans of the need to reflect on where they were coming from as well as to look forward to where they were going. It is important to remember our history, and to learn from ... [continue reading]

The ODA's annual Leadership Institute has become one of the best-rated continuing education and leadership development programs in dentistry. It is a past winner of a Golden Apple Award from the American Dental Association for its quality programming. This year’s Leadership Institute, to be held on Friday, March 17, and Saturday, March 18, 2017, ... [continue reading]

Last month’s Legal Briefs column focused on the membership benefits of organized dentistry’s advocacy efforts and reviewed several pieces of legislation the ODA’s professional lobbying team worked on throughout 2016 leading up to the final weeks of the 131st Ohio General Assembly’s two-year term. Legislators since ... [continue reading]

Member dentists occasionally contact the Ohio Dental Association concerning third-party reimbursement arrangements that they are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with. Common recent examples have involved unsolicited efforts by third-party payers to provide reimbursement using electronic funds transfer (EFT) or virtual credit cards. ODA advocacy and ... [continue reading]

In high school, many of us were forced to read “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  The author draws a distinction between “Matters of Consequence” and “Essential Matters.”  Early on, Saint-Exupery lists a number of Matters of Consequence:  bridge, golf, politics, neckties.  ... [continue reading]