Rally Day

I really enjoyed myself at Rally day. It is interesting that members of congress make critical decisions on dental care, with usually no background or education in these areas. These choices impact both clinicians and the community. Certain laws may restrict our roles in providing access to care. The community may be affected by legislative decisions pertaining to dental insurance, oral health program grants, and access to underserved areas. It is the responsibility of students and clinicians to educate these legislators and push for issues that affect the public. We are the voice for not only the community as a whole, but specifically the child with rampant decay, the adult with no dental insurance, the rural county with lack of dental care. I gained a lot of knowledge on the specific bills at this event. I have had the opportunity to witness the lack of available dental care in certain areas of the state, so I was very pleased to see the bill dealing with the ongoing project in underserved areas. There are too many people with a lack dental care and too big of an increase of carious lesions in children. We can make a change clinically in offices, but it takes legislative action to impact a bigger population. I look forward to participating in this event again.