Colorado Dentist Voted President-Elect by the American Dental Association

Brett Kessler, D.D.S., will assume ADA presidency in 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHICAGO, October 10, 2023 — Dr. Brett Kessler, a dentist in Denver, Colo., is the new President-Elect of the American Dental Association (ADA). Dr. Kessler was recently elected at the ADA House of Delegates Meeting at ADA SmileCon™ in Orlando, Fla., on Oct. 10.

Dr. Kessler has been an active volunteer leader and member of the ADA for 26 years. Since 2019, Dr. Kessler has represented the 14th District on the ADA Board of Trustees, and he has chaired several ADA committees, including the Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Audit Committee. He is also the Chair of the ADA Science and Research Institute’s Board of Directors and currently serving his second term.

Dr. Kessler’s vast ADA leadership involvement also extends to the House of Delegates, the Dental Wellbeing Advisory Committee and the Council of Dental Benefit Programs, where he was Vice Chair. Additionally, he has served as a Board of Trustees Liaison to the Council on Advocacy for Access and Prevention, Council of Communications and Council on Dental Practice. He was also awarded the Golden Apple award for “Outstanding Leadership in Mentoring” in 2010, which is the highest award bestowed from the ADA.

Dr. Kessler is also involved in numerous other organizations, including the Metropolitan Denver Dental Society, the Colorado Prosthodontic Society, the American College of Dentists, the International College of Dentists, the Pierre Fauchard Academy and the Colorado Dental Association Foundation, where he was the Founding Chair.

He served as president of the Colorado Dental Association from 2014-2015, and prior to his term, he held a plethora of other leadership roles within the organization. Dr. Kessler graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago College of Dentistry and completed his General Practice Residency at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He has experience practicing in a wide variety of practice modalities, including hospital setting, employee dentist, practice owner in a fee-for-service startup, chief dental officer at a Dental Support Organization and currently practices in a restorative Preferred Provider Organization.

Dr. Kessler has been an educator at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine and University of Michigan. A national wellness and leadership speaker, he is also a five-time Ironman triathlete, ultra-marathoner and avid trail runner. In addition to his work as a clinician, he has been involved with volunteer organizations which promote substance abuse advocacy and wellbeing. He is married to Gina Kessler, D.D.S., and they have four children together.

About the American Dental Association
The not-for-profit ADA is the nation's largest dental association, representing 159,000 dentist members. The premier source of oral health information, the ADA has advocated for the public's health and promoted the art and science of dentistry since 1859. The ADA's state-of-the-art research facilities develop and test dental products and materials that have advanced the practice of dentistry and made the patient experience more positive. The ADA Seal of Acceptance has long been a valuable and respected guide to consumer dental care products. The Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), published monthly, is the ADA's flagship publication and the best-read scientific journal in dentistry. For more information about the ADA, visit ADA.org. For more information on oral health, including prevention, care and treatment of dental disease, visit the ADA's consumer website MouthHealthy.org.

About the ADA Forsyth Institute

The ADA Forsyth Institute was founded in 1910 as the Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children (later, the Forsyth Institute), to provide dental care to the disadvantaged children of Boston. While continuing to serve children in need, yet recognizing the ultimate goal is to prevent dental disease, the Institute in 1915 began to focus on scientific research and is today the world’s leader in oral health research. In October of 2023, the Institute joined with the American Dental Association to form the ADA Forsyth Institute, a 501(c)(3) entity dedicated to improving people’s oral and overall health and powering the profession of dentistry through cutting-edge basic research, creative translational science, innovative clinical technologies, and global public health outreach. Consistent with the Institute’s founding mission, the ADA ForsythKids mobile dental program continues to serve children in need.