News

Most healthcare providers know that a patient's signature on an informed consent document may not automatically make the consent valid. The same is true of informed refusal. Both of these concepts rely on ethical and legal guidelines that acknowledge the right of competent adults to determine the course of their healthcare. The decision-making ... [continue reading]

Ohio Dental Association members consistently rate the ODA's advocacy efforts as one of their top membership benefits on surveys, and members often say that advocacy is one of the reasons why they choose to renew their tripartite membership. “Advocacy is the most important benefit of membership in my opinion,” said Dr. Alex Mellion, an ... [continue reading]

This year's ODA Leadership Institute will feature several opportunities for ODA members to learn about opioid and heroin addiction and ways that dentists can help curb opioid abuse. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine will be the keynote speaker on March 17, and he will speak about the heroin and opioid abuse epidemic in Ohio. Leadership Institute ... [continue reading]

Dr. Sylvia Kramer, a general dentist who provides dental services to children through Care Alliance, performs a disappearing ball magic trick to ease children's fear about the dentist and to assess their ability to follow directions before an oral screen Care Alliance Health Center, a federally qualified health center in Cleveland, is one of five ... [continue reading]

As the charitable arm of the ODA, the ODA Foundation relies heavily on the donations of ODA members to make its work possible.  “If you like the work we’ve been doing to give scholarships to dental students and grants to increase access to care in Ohio, I encourage you to donate to the ODA Foundation when you renew your ODA ... [continue reading]

The celebration has culminated with the creation of an eBook commemorating its 150th anniversary. The eBook, "Ohio Dental Association: 150 Years of Excellence," includes a timeline plus information about advocacy, education, ethics and more throughout the association’s history. The ODA also celebrated throughout the year with articles and ... [continue reading]

This year, the Ohio Dental Political Action Committee raised more than $258,000. More than 34 percent of members contributed to ODPAC, with an average contribution of about $167. ODPAC’s contribution cycle runs from Nov. 1 to Oct. 31. ODPAC is dentistry’s voice in the political arena and has a proven history of protecting dentists, ... [continue reading]

The Ohio Dental Association has retained 95.7 percent of its 2015 membership. Moreover, 17 of its 25 local component dental societies have retained 95 percent or more of their 2015 membership. Following is a list of those societies: Eastern Ohio Dental Society (100 percent) Lorain County Dental Society (99.15 percent) Akron Dental Society (99.08 ... [continue reading]

We have witnessed how a movement can overcome adversity and prevail against what Tom Brokaw has referred to as "tribalism." In dentistry there has been a recent trend of dentists defining themselves as members of different tribes delineated by gender, age, practice modality, ethnicity, etc. and then focusing only on those issues that pertain to ... [continue reading]

In September 2016, I wrote about two recent federal court cases that raised significant issues about how dentists may advertise related to the services they provide. At that time, I indicated that I would use this column to keep readers apprised of any updates. Texas case In January 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas ... [continue reading]