Who We Are

ADA members support the association's participation in the political process through the American Dental Political Action Committee, the bipartisan voice of thousands of dentists who care deeply about their patients and their profession.

ADPAC's sole purpose is to elect candidates who understand the importance of dentistry and are committed to the nation's oral health. ADPAC is a critical component of organized dentistry's advocacy strategy in Washington.

The ADPAC Board is a team of committed volunteers drawn from the 17 ADA districts and include representatives from various organizations.

ADPAC Is Effective

• ADPAC backed winners in 319 of 351 House races and in 28 of 34 Senate races in 2008. These elected representatives understand the importance of oral health and the important role dentists play in ensuring the nation's health.
• Our Grassroots Action Teams, made up of dentists and spouses across the U.S., respond to action alerts when legislative challenges arise. An alert to grassroots members in April 2009 concerning the FTC's Red Flag Rule generated 11,000 responses, helping delay a burdensome and inappropriate regulation.
• ADPAC sponsored a limited advertising campaign to remind Congress that major health care reform legislation that ignores oral health is not real reform, and that the most important step toward improving the oral health of the underserved is to properly fund programs like Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
• As part of ongoing efforts to mobilize dentists politically, ADPAC sponsored the first State PAC Conference to enhance communication and coordination between state PACs and ADPAC. Representatives of nearly 40 dental PAC organizations met with ADPAC in New Orleans last November to review priority issues and strategies to advance the oral health agenda. To find out who participated from your district, please contact us.

Become a Player

In Washington, the saying goes, you're either at the table or on the menu. ADPAC plays an essential role in securing a seat for dentists at the table. Regardless of party affiliation or views of Washington politics, dentists cannot afford to turn their backs and assume problems will go away. Nor is it effective to let others shoulder the burden. We all have to be players.

The greater the number of member participating, the more our efforts are amplified, and the more our success is assured. Please sign up and become an active member. Learn about action issues here . There are many ways you can help.

To find out how to take part, talk to your ADPAC board member, your or contact us. This time to join is now!

Contact Us

Kathleen B. Ford, Director of Political Affairs/ADPAC
American Dental Political Action Committee
ADA Washington Office
1111 14th Street NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
202.898.2424
Fax: 202.898.2437
E-mail: govtpol@ada.org