Any value of being a representative for Organized Dentistry?

[OrphanageCaretaker]

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I am considering specializing and I was wondering if becoming a representative in any of these organized groups would help me in terms of resume/connections/etc. Are these comparable to organizations joined during undergrad eg: clubs? There isn't much information out there and I was wondering if anyone here had any insight. These are the following options available:

1. ADEA (American Dental Education Association)
2. ASDA (American Student Dental Association)
3. CDA (California Dental Association)

Thank you.

 

[theleatherwalle]

I didn't find any value in it, but if you're needing guidance, finding a job, or relocating it can be useful.

 

[wetn00dle]

I joined a couple different orgs--not necessarily because I want to specialize, but because I think it's important to get rooted in things I care about and contribute to the my dental community in a meaningful way. If I choose to specialize later, great. More stuff to put on my app and experiences to talk about/learn from. If not, I can still draw upon the experience when I go to apply for jobs.

This is kind of how I filtered out which extracurriculars to go for:

• Am I genuinely interested?
• Am I committed to seeing the role through for the term length, even if it is less than ideal conditions?
• Do I have adequate understanding of what the role will entail? Am I prepared for how much work/time commitment I am willing to contribute?
• Do I have compelling experience that would make me an appropriate fit?

gl

 

[lemoncurry]

I was the ADEA rep for my class and I found it very enlightening, especially since I was on the curriculum committee as part of that position. I liked being able to have direct input on issues regarding our classes and such. Plus the school foots the bill for the conference trips which are a great way to network. I'm still friends with some of the students I met through those trips.

 

[2TH MVR]

Helps in networking if your plan is to be a specialist. Rubbing shoulders with referral GPs. I did this when I was a young, starving specialist. After a few years .... I let it go. Just not my thing.

 

[BluntForceTrauma]

I feel like the people in ASDA are the socialites of the school, more interested in traveling than patient care (and then whine about not having requirements done because they've been doing so much stuff outside of school).

I feel like ADEA actually does more for students and people alike, but my two cents.

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[cooliyak]

ASDA offers more opportunities by far than any other organization. Whether or not it helps you in specializing is a separate issue. It can for sure help you make connections that may be extremely valuable in the future. Being involved in the CDA and ASDA as a student kind of go hand-in-hand, so you can get double the benefits with that route. Out of those three options, I’d see if I could do options 2 and 3 together if I were you.

 

[DrJeff]

Take this from the perspective of someone who was very actively involved in organized dentistry, on a local, state and even national (as one of my state delegates to the ADA for 3 years) level. I stepped back a bit over the last few years due to the time constraints family wise of having 2 very active then middle schoolers, now high schoolers at home, but plan on getting very active again in a few years when both kids are off in college.

There's a bunch of value in organized dentistry that one often doesn't fully appreciate, and it doesn't always come in the form of CE credits or a very solidly written journal that you receive monthly.

The ability, when it comes to the legislative side of dentistry, in particular on a state and national level, for the various members of the ADA who volunteer their time to be a very active in the political lobbying for our profession to say that roughly 60% of all dentists are members (the American Medical Association by comparison is at roughly 1/3rd membership, does help and carry some weight as we are advocating legislatively for what's best for our profession. You often don't see or hear of many of the legislative "victories" that organized dentistry has won (and sometime those victories may have more to do not with getting a bill passed, but with preventing a bill, that would have negative consequences for our profession from even making it out of committee so it could be voted on.

Again, this may not be as apparent as some CE offerings or JADA showing up monthly, but it does have significant value for the profession