The American Dental Association (ADA) is the largest dental association of the United States with over 157,000 members. Founded in 1859, the ADA is the prime informatory resource on oral health for dental professionals and their patients. The patient-centric association endeavors to improve public oral health along with being a representative of dentistry.

Advocacy

The ADA also doubles as the US’s prime advocate of dental health. The Association has been working assiduously to further public policies that enhance dental practices and public oral health in the country. With its office in Washington D.C., the ADA takes its proximity to the Capitol Hill as an opportunity to lobby for dentistry as a profession.

Right from dental student debt programs; dental practices related to anesthesia, advertising, and licensure; dental products such as dental bleaching, fluorides, toothpastes, and drug shortages,  supporting dental research opportunities and identifying important dental matters requiring scientific examination, the ADA advances several issues and policy ideas to the US Congress.

ADA Code

The ADA Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct is an embodiment of standards set for dental professionals for adherence to foremost ethical principles which arise out of the implied contract between the dental professional and the society. The following are the five principles that make up the ADA code of ethics:

  • Self-governance – Patient’s right to be part of treatment decisions and ADA dentist’s duty to honor them keeping in mind the treatment parameters.
  • Do no harm – Protecting dental patient from harm and ADA dentist’s obligation to constantly upgrade his knowledge and skills.
  • Do good – ADA dentist’s duty to provide you timely and proper dental care keeping in mind your needs and requirements.
  • Fairness – ADA dentist’s duty to treat all patients as equal without any bias.
  • Truthfulness – ADA dentist’s duty to be truthful and dependable.

Why choose an ADA-member Dental Professional?

Some of the reasons to choose a dental professional who is a member of the Association are:

  • As an abider of the ADA code of ethics, your dental professional makes an implied promise to give prime importance to your health.
  • Your dental doctor is obliged to deal with you with utmost truthfulness and integrity
  • His skill-sets are going to be constantly upgraded and up-to-date with the continuing education programs run by the Association.
  • He will have access to the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), a clinical peer-reviewed journal of the ADA; hence, he will be competent to answer your queries.
  • He will have the necessary skills and expertise to work with other dental specialists, should the need arise.

We facilitate treatment by ADA-member dental specialists in Costa Rica. You can look forward to quality dental care away from your home country.

The nine dental specialty areas formally recognized by the ADA are:

  • Public oral health
  • Endodontics (treatment of diseases or injuries to dental pulp)
  • Oral and maxillofacial pathology (diseases concerning the mouth including the jaws, salivary glands, TMJ, skin surrounding the mouth and muscles of the face)
  • Oral and maxillofacial surgery (surgical treatment of diseases and injuries of the mouth, jaw, neck and face)
  • Orthodontics (improper bite correction, usually through braces)
  • Dentofacial Orthopedics (concerned with facial growth and development)
  • Pediatric dentistry (concerned with oral health of children – right from early years to teenage years)
  • Periodontics (concerned with diseases of the gum)
  • Prosthodontics (restoration and maintenance of normal oral functioning, health, and aesthetics of the patient through dental prosthetics)
  • Dental and Maxillofacial Radiology (performing and interpreting diagnostic radiographic imaging of maxillofacial structures)