Sonali Lallu and Hilary Wong have been committed to ASDA and learning about their future careers throughout their undergrad studies. Here, they discuss how predentals and rising D1s can get involved and why advocacy is important to students at all levels.
Words have the power to invoke a feeling, relive a memory and inspire change. In advocacy, the rhetoric we choose can make or break the conversations you’re having. To lobby is to converse with people in power and persuade them to enact change. Using the aspects of rhetoric can enhance our advocacy and lobby efforts.
Advocacy Month 2020 is here, and this year, we are exploring the past, present and future of advocacy through the theme, “Hindsight is 2020: Act now to change the future.” As we delve into Advocacy Month, we’ll explore where advocacy started, where we are now and where we’re headed.
This time of the year usually signifies great celebration for graduating dental students across the country. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, graduation ceremonies look a lot different this year with virtual walks across the stage and celebrations at home in quarantine. How graduates will become licensed is different as well, and non-patient-based alternatives are now coming to the forefront.
The World Health Organization defines health policy as “…decisions, plans and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific health care goals within a society.” These political, economic and social policies seek to improve patient safety, promote healthy outcomes and achieve quality standards.
It’s a tradition: one Class II, one Class III, and scaling and root planing. Three exercises stand between dental school and practicing as a dentist. The single encounter, high stakes, live clinical exam is the most common form of obtaining licensure for a graduating dentist. This exam is just a snapshot of a candidate’s ability to practice on the public, yet it confers a privilege to practice on the public for a lifetime.
As a first-year dental student, I had no concept of what it meant to be an advocate for the dental profession. And when I took on my first role as the University of North Carolina (UNC) ASDA chapter legislative liaison, I still had no idea. Having no one at UNC to help guide the way, I was overwhelmed. Luckily, a few months after starting the role, I attended the ADA Dentist and Dental Student Lobby Day in Washington, D.C.
