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The ADAA and DANB share a long and distinguished past. While these are now two separately incorporated organizations, this was not always the case. The ADAA was initially founded in 1921 by Juliette A. Southard as the Education and Efficiency Society. A primary goal of the newly formed organization was to develop and support study groups to train dental assistants to be more efficient in the dental office.
In 1930, a curriculum committee was formed within the ADAA to develop educational guidelines and training courses for dental assistants. The initial 140-hour course was adopted in 1946. In 1944, the ADAA formed a certification committee to prepare standards and develop a competency examination for dental assistants. The Certifying Board of the ADAA was established in 1948. That same year, the ADAA also developed an accreditation process for dental assisting training programs. In 1978, the Certifying Board of the ADAA became independently incorporated as the Dental Assisting National Board, Inc. (DANB). From 1948 to the present, more than 175,000 dental assistants have been DANB Certified. While separate organizations, DANB's and ADAA's missions are complementary. Representatives of each of these organizations will highlight their common purposes, differences and the benefits of each.
You Know Them When You See Them
By Anna Nelson, CDA, RDA, MA, ADAA Past President and Editorial Director
There are many fine reasons to join an association - direct and indirect. By direct, we mean the simple, straightforward benefits that you could present to an accountant (or the IRS) and say, "Here. This is what I get for my money."
When a dental assistant chooses to join the American Dental Assistants Association, he or she is met with an array of direct benefits:
* The Dental Assistant Journal published six times each year
* Discounts on Continuing Education Courses
* Free C.E. in two or three issues of the Journal each year
* Professional Liability insurance
* Accidental Death and Dismemberment insurance
* Free resume posting on the web through our internet affiliate
* Discounts on national and other educational meetings closer to home and access to:
*Dental Equipment & Materials (free subscription)
*Linda Miles' newsletter Dynamic Dentistry (free subscription)
* Travel and hotel discounts
* Credit cards, health insurance programs in most states...