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The American College of Dentists (ACD) is the oldest national honorary organization for dentists. Its members have exemplified excellence through outstanding leadership and exceptional contributions to dentistry and society. In response to serious problems facing the profession, the American College of Dentists was founded August 20, 1920, to elevate the standards of dentistry, to encourage graduate study, and to grant Fellowship to those who have done meritorious work. The American College of Dentists is nonprofit and apolitical, and has long beenregarded as the "conscience of dentistry."
Our mission is to advance excellence, ethics, professionalism, and leadership in dentistry.
The College has played a vital role in positively shaping the profession. Early accomplishments include being the first organization to promote what we today call "continuing education," organizing and incorporating the American Association of
Dental Editors, and essentially saving the Journal of Dental Research during the Depression. The College is currently involved in a wide range of activities, nationally and locally, to accomplish its mission. These efforts include ethics summits, online courses in dental ethics, an ethics speaker series, the Professional Ethics Initiative, an entry level ethics course, online leadership courses, leadership symposia, a leadership speaker series, a multimedia dental history resource, resource materials for dental schools, a variety of award programs, and more. Recent developments include:
- Stressed out? An online Personal Stress Inventory has been added to Dental Leadership at www.dentalleadership.org. The inventory is one of the self-assessment leadership tools and is listed as Activity E under the Assessment heading. The inventory is also associated with Course 28. You will first need to register. Dental Leadership is a comprehensive leadership resources and includes education, assessment, and library modules. Continuing education credit is available for courses in the education module.
- New! Digital compilations of the 52 Ethical Dilemmas published in the Texas Dental Journal from 1993 to 2005, and authored by the late Dr. Thomas K. Hasegawa and others, can be downloaded from www.dentalethics.org. The dilemmas are also available in limited numbers on CDs from the Executive Office.
- The ACD has formally agreed with the American Society for Dental Ethics (ASDE) to pursue integration of the two organizations. Under the guidelines of the agreement, after a suitable trial period—and assuming no major issues arise—ASDE will become a unique, non-geographically based Section of the ACD. Dental ethics is a comparatively small field, and a coordinated voice would be an advantage for two different organizations having complementary missions. ASDE was established in 2004 to succeed PEDNET (Professional Ethics in Dentistry Network, founded in 1987).
- The College is gathering information to help improve dental practice, and we could use your help. If you are currently in practice, would you please take the anonymous Practice Values Inventory. It only takes a minute or two and it will provide us with very useful information.
- Courses Online Dental Ethics (CODE), our series of online ethics courses, now has seven courses, each providing complimentary continuing education credit. A recent course utilizes streaming video. Try it at www.dentalethics.org.
- The American College of Dentists Foundation has received a pledge of $50,000 from Dentsply International in support of Courses Online Dental Ethics (CODE), www.dentalethics.org. Our deepest appreciation is extened to Dentply International for this tangible commitment to ethics and professionalism.
- The Members Only section contains a variety of useful resources; use the Members
 link on the menu.
- A new, simplified, one-page nomination form is available to be used in conjunction with the nominee's curriculum vitae. Contact our
for more information.
- The Bylaws have been modified to reflect the creation of At Large Regents and the Sections Committee.
- The Code of Conduct has been modified to reflect the slightly expanded use of the abbreviation, F.A.C.D., after one's name.
Explore our Web site and learn more
about the American College of Dentists.
John M. Scarola
President |
