BACKGROUNDERS AND MEDIA INFORMATION
In an effort to help you more quickly, we've provided some of our most-requested background and resource information here:
Florida Dental Association
Founded in 1884, the Florida Dental Association is a statewide, professional membership organization representing over 7,000 Florida-licensed dentists. About 75 percent of all licensed dentists in Florida belong to the FDA. The FDA employs 56 professional staff members in three Tallahassee offices - two in the Mahan Executive Center on East Tennessee Street and a Governmental Affairs Office on Jefferson Street.
A constituent society of the American Dental Association, the FDA's mission is to advance public health through professional education, public advocacy, high practice standards and improving the professional practice environment.
Florida Board of Dentistry
The Florida Dental Association is not a regulatory or disciplinary agency. The dental profession is licensed and regulated by the Florida Board of Dentistry, a state-government agency that meets several times a year throughout Florida.
Patient Advocacy
The FDA sponsors numerous services and programs that encourage good dental health habits among people of all ages.
Project: Dentists Care, an FDA charitable organization, is a network of dentists throughout Florida that provides dental care to patients who otherwise could not afford it. PDC, which has 44 affiliated clinics, is part of the Florida Department of Health's Volunteer Health Care Provider Program.
The FDA's Peer Review Mediation Program is voluntary and designed to resolve problems between dentists and patients in a manner that is quick, efficient and cost-effective for both parties. Cases involving problems with treatment and procedures are eligible for mediation.
Save That Smile is the FDA's newest public-awareness campaign, designed to increase the use of mouthguards and reduce the occurrence and severity of dental-facial injuries among children who play contact sports. Look for more information in the future about this important topic.
Give Kids A Smile. Give Kids A Smile, a Project: Dentists Care program, is a dental access day designed to give children in Florida much-needed dental care, and to raise awareness that Florida’s children need and deserve an improved health-care system that addresses their dental needs. For GKAS background information and other resources, click here.
Children's Dental Health Month is held each February. FDA members throughout the state promote good dental-health habits among Florida's children by giving presentations and providing free oral-health screenings. The FDA and its members help teach parents and their children the importance of taking good care of their teeth.
Senior Dental Health Awareness Week, held each November, offers Florida's elderly residents an opportunity to learn about special oral-health needs they may have as they grow older. FDA members throughout the state often give presentations and provide free dental-health screenings in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.
Legislative Advocacy back to top
As the voice of Florida-licensed member-dentists, the FDA supports legislation that protects the high quality of dental care that Florida's residents receive.
Battling the Illegal Practice of Dentistry (2000 Legislature):
The FDA helped push through legislation that stiffens the penalties and puts more teeth into the laws against unlicensed practice.
Before the 2000 Legislature, only dentists - and, unfortunately, many unsuspecting patients -recognized the illegal practice of dentistry as a problem and a threat to public health.
Today, however, because of the FDA's efforts, the media, legislature, attorney general and local and state attorneys also recognize the illegal practice of dentistry as a problem.
The 2000 Florida Legislature passed a bill making the unlicensed practice of any health-care profession, including dentistry, a third-degree felony with a mandatory one-year jail sentence and up to a $5,000 fine.
Freedom of choice back to top
The FDA supported legislation that requires the State of Florida to offer its employees an indemnity dental option with a choice of dentist.
Patient-protection initiative (2000 Legislature):
(1997 Legislature): The FDA successfully lobbied for a law that protects patients who receive care through prepaid limited health service organizations (PLHSOs). The law requires disclosure guidelines and a 90-day written notice for contract terminations. It also prohibits gag clauses, which kept doctors from telling patients about all available treatment options.
Improved care for special-needs patients (1998 Legislature):
The FDA successfully battled the insurance industry to guarantee that health-insurance companies cover general anesthesia and hospitalization for necessary dental care for patients with special needs.
Most dental procedures can be safely performed in a dental office using local anesthesia. But sometimes, these routine approaches are inappropriate, ineffective or dangerous for some patients. Dentists have developed alternative techniques, including providing care under general anesthesia in a hospital, surgical center or in a specially equipped dental office.
Unfortunately, however, these special patients often were denied insurance reimbursement. These denials created financial hardships for families that resulted either in a compromise or refusal of dental care.
Today, however, because of the new law, health-insurance companies must cover alternative techniques for special-needs patients.
Increased Medicaid provider fees (1998 Legislature): back to top
The FDA lobbied for a 13 percent ($10.1 million) increase in Medicaid dental-provider fees. Despite increases in costs to provide dental care, Medicaid dental-provider fees stayed the same for almost a decade.
Florida National Dental Convention
The Florida National Dental Convention is the FDA's official annual meeting. It's one of Florida's largest conventions and one of the largest dental conventions in the southeast. FNDC is held in June at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center. Traditionally, about 10,000 people - including member-dentists, their dental staffs, families and exhibitors - attend FNDC. While most attendees are from Florida and the southeast, some travel from as far away as South America.
Attendees can choose from the 58 credit and 15 non-credit courses available during FNDC, including all of the courses required for relicensure by the Florida Board of Dentistry. FNDC exhibitors display some of the latest technology available in dentistry.
