Episode 105 – Dental Therapy Part 1 – Arizona Dental Association President Opposes Dental Therapy

Removing the Bite Block

On this week’s episode of Removing the Bite Block Dr. Zeller interviews president of the Arizona Dental Association, Dr. Robert Roda. Dr. Roda is an endodontist in Scottsdale, AZ. In April of 2018 Dr. Roda wrote an editorial that was published in the ADA news titled, “MyView: State’s Failed Dental Therapy Experiment”. At this time the state of Arizona was considering the licensing of dental therapists. In an attempt to block this bill, Dr. Roda describes his view on how, “…Dental therapists are a distraction. They solve nothing.” He also states that the Minnesota dental therapy model, “…is really nothing more than a few people standing around waving sparklers.” Dr. Zeller and Dr. Roda discuss this editorial, along with some of the following topics:

• Dr. Roda’s idea for Quality Assurance permits
• How the dental community responded to his editorial
• How some patients simple make “bad decisions”
• The power of interactive study clubs
• The Pew Foundation
• Defining “success” when providing access to care
• Zombies
• Getting more involved in organized dentistry

Dr. Roda received his BS in Biology (1977) and DDS degrees (1981) at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada and practiced as a general dentist in Nova Scotia for 10 years. He earned his MS in Oral Biology and Certificate of Specialty in Endodontics at Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas in 1993 and became a Diplomate of the American Board of Endodontics in 1998.

Dr. Roda is a Past President of the American Association of Endodontists and the current President-Elect of the Arizona Dental Association. He is an Endodontic Consultant to the Arizona State Board of Dental Examiners, Visiting Lecturer in the Endodontic Department at the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Endodontics . He is a member of the American Dental Association (ADA), American Association of Endodontists (AAE), the Canadian Acadamy of Endodontics, and the Central Arizona Dental Society (CADS).

A link to his editorial published in the ADA News about the Minnesota Dental Therapy Model can be found here.

The post Episode 105 – Dental Therapy Part 1 – Arizona Dental Association President Opposes Dental Therapy appeared first on Removing the Bite Block.