ADA sends grassroots alert on Action for Dental Health Act

Association encourages dentists to urge law reauthorization

The American Dental Association sent out a grassroots Action Alert March 4 encouraging members to urge their representatives to vote yes on the Action for Dental Health Act of 2023. 

Action for Dental Health has been providing funding for the Health Resources and Services Administration oral health workforce grant program since 2018. The program seeks to improve access to care and bolster dental workforce. The Action for Dental health Act would reauthorize the program for another five years, through 2028. 

According to the ADA, the Action for Dental Health program supported many important initiatives such as reducing dental disease through oral health education and reducing emergency department visits through establishing dental homes. Action for Dental Health also funded many programs to support the training of dental hygienists and dental assistants.

In the grassroots alert, the ADA encouraged members to email representatives and ask them to vote yes on “this crucial workforce grant program focused on providing access to care for those most in need.”

“In doing so, they can express their support for the oral health of underserved populations, and for the improvements in the dental workforce needed to get dental professionals where they are most needed,” the alert concluded. 

The House of Representatives is expected to vote March 5 on the Action for Dental Health Act of 2023.

Follow all of the ADA's advocacy efforts at ADA.org/Advocacy.