The American Dental Association today commended Reps. Michael Burgess (R-Tex.) and Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) for introducing the Dental Emergency Responder Act (H.R. 570), a bill that would bolster the country's capacity to respond to natural disasters or terrorist attacks by taking advantage of dentists' extensive education, training and professionalism.
ADA President Raymond F. Gist, DDS, said, "This legislation would incorporate dentistry by name into federal and state disaster response frameworks, improving the nation's first-response infrastructure by deploying dentists during a natural or man-made disaster."
The bill calls for no new federal money and would pose no new restrictions on monies now being spent. It would simply allow states, at their option, to incorporate dentists and dental facilities into their planning.
"Dentists are fully trained doctors," Dr. Gist said. "With proper preparatory training in disaster response they can be invaluable assets in the community response to both man-made and natural disasters."