FROM YOUR PDA PRESIDENT-ELECT
• Develop a statewide effort to provide dental care
for underserved military veterans.
This is a new initiative that I am asking our Access to Oral
Health Advisory Group to consider. While serving on
the ADA Council of Government Affairs (CGA), I learned
that military veterans who are not 100 percent disabled
or who have not suffered war wounds to the maxilla
or mandible were not eligible for dental care at any of
the VA facilities in our nation. I saw this in person as a
site visitor for the Commission on Dental Accreditation
at a nearby VA hospital’s General Practice Residency
program in 2016. At our Harrisburg MOM-n-PA event,
I screened a young military veteran who served in the
desert, whose molars and premolars were decayed
to the point of no return. I started an initiative in the
Lehigh Valley to serve these indigent military veterans in
private offices and hospital dental clinics, for free or for
significantly reduced fees.
This is not a one-day “Give Vets a Smile” type of
program, but a comprehensive care program donated
by local dentists. Our veterans have sacrificed to serve
our nation, and we need to give back to those less
fortunate than we. My own brother served in Vietnam,
returned safely and is financially stable - but he put his
life at risk. Most of us do not have to face that kind of
peril, but we certainly can help those who did and are
now suffering from dental conditions that they cannot
afford to treat. This will be a statewide program and
I am sure that our members will respond to this by
donating their time and talents.
In closing,
I want to say thank you to the talented and dedicated
team of staff members who work at the PDA Central
Office to ensure that our programs run smoothly. From
the buyer’s club, to online CE, the new mobile app,
meeting planning, government relations and other
initiatives, we need to recognize those who work behind
the scenes ensuring our success. If you need anything
from PDA, feel free to call and they will be very willing to
help you out.
On a final note, I would like each of you to take a look
at the PDA’s Purposes Statement (Article II of our
Constitution, see below) and decide if this truly reflects
today’s PDA. I want to hear from you and get your
opinion as to which direction we should be taking in the
future. I would like to see the success of our members
and the health of the public to be our focus, and I
welcome any feedback that will help move your PDA
forward.
Charles J. Incalcaterra, DMD
PDA President 2019-2020
CONSTITUTION
OF THE PENNSYLVANIA
DENTAL ASSOCIATION
Article II - Purposes
The purposes of PDA are: to improve oral and dental health services to the public by cultivating and promoting
the art and science of dentistry; by encouraging and providing for dental research; by disseminating among
the profession advanced scientific knowledge; by elevating and sustaining the education of dentists in formal
institutions of learning, and by establishing devices that provide opportunities for continuing education after
graduation; by promoting the enactment and enforcement of just dental laws, designed to serve the health interests
of the people; by enlightening public opinion with respect to the prevention of oral diseases and the care of oral
health, as it relates to general health; by directing the procedures and energies of the members of the profession in
the interests of public health and welfare; by providing services for the advancement of the profession of dentistry.
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