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Overview
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the Gulf Coast Hurricanes of 2005 revealed substantial shortcomings in the nation's medical surge capacity. Unfortunately, many federal, state, and local disaster response plans have yet to identify a role for dentistry beyond victim identification and administrative support.
Dentists and allied dental personnel are willing to support the medical and public health response to disasters and, with minimal additional training, could readily fit into an all-hazards emergency health care paradigm. Dentists receive a sound general medical background during their professional education. Most dental facilities can also be used as outpatient surgery centers and pharmaceutical storage and distribution sites for overwhelmed hospital facilities.
To help optimize our nation's medical surge capacity, the ADA is calling for:
- Advanced training and technical assistance to help dental personnel care for large numbers of patients during public health emergencies, and to serve as members of an all-volunteer national medical reserve corps,
- State licensure requirements to be waived or reciprocated for health professionals traveling across state lines, and
- Dentists to be granted immunity from civil actions—except in cases of willful misconduct—for damages resulting from the good faith treatment of casualties during an emergency.
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Legislation
Dental Emergency Responder Act
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Letters and Testimony
- November 10, 2009—Letter thanking Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich. 1st) for ensuring that H.R. 903
 , the Dental Emergency Responder Act, was incorporated into H.R. 3962 , the Affordable Health Care for America Act. | PDF file/45k
- April 13, 2009—Coalition letter urging members of the Senate to sponsor the Dental Emergency Responder Act | PDF file/24k
- April 13, 2009—Coalition letter urging members of the House to cosponsor H.R. 903 , the Dental Emergency Responder Act | PDF file/24k
- February 5, 2009—Letter to Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mich. 1st) and Candice Miller (R-Mich. 10th) expressing support for H.R. 903 , the Dental Emergency Responder Act
| PDF file/34k
- February 5, 2009—Statement by ADA President John S. Findley on H.R. 903 , the Dental Emergency Responder Act
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ADA Resources
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Additional Resources
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Contact Us
For additional information, please contact:
Federal Affairs
1111 14th Street NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
202.898.2400
Fax: 202.898.2437
E-mail: govtpol@ada.org
State Government Affairs
ADA Chicago Headquarters
211 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
312.440.2525
Fax: 312.440.3539
E-mail: govtpol@ada.org
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