American Student Dental Association
 |
|
| Formation | 1971 |
|---|---|
| Type | Professional association |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
| Location |
|
|
Membership
|
20,000 |
|
Official language
|
English |
|
President
|
Christian Piers |
|
Staff
|
13 |
| Website | ASDAnet.org |
The American Student Dental Association (ASDA) is a national student-run organization that attempts to protect and advance the rights, interests, and welfare of students pursuing careers in dentistry. It introduces students to lifelong involvement in organized dentistry and provides services, information, education, recreation, representation and limited amounts of advocacy.
ASDA was established to connect, support and advance the needs of dental students. ASDA represents 90 percent of all students from 65 U.S. dental schools. Since 2011, dental student membership has averaged more than 19,000. ASDA also welcomes hundreds of predental students each year.
In 1969, university students across the country staged demonstrations to protest the Vietnam War, restrictive school policies, dress codes and more. Dental school admission criteria became more selective and the competition for acceptance into dental schools increased. The resulting student profile was a brighter, more socially aware individual with diverse interests and talents.
However, at this time dental school could be likened to boot camp. In fact, many instructors were indeed retired military officers. Students were told how long to wear their hair and sideburns. Some schools even had fingernail inspections. Only a handful of women and minority students could be found in dental school. To make matters worse, no system of due process existed, which meant students could be expelled with no available recourse for help. With a multitude of issues building, the solution presented itself-dental students needed to organize.
That year the federal government offered the Student American Medical Association (SAMA) a $1 million grant to coordinate student involvement in the Appalachia Project and the American Indian Health Program. Dentistry was the only health care discipline without its own national student organization. In order to receive the grant for the project, SAMA needed dental students to organize.
The presidents of SAMA (now known as the American Medical Student Association) and the Student American Pharmacy Association both attended the University of California at San Francisco. They approached Dennis Spain, a third year student at the university's dental school, to start a national association for dental students.
...
Wikipedia