NEWSWORTHY ITEMS

American Society for Dental Ethics (ASDE)
In 2008, ASDE (formerly known as the Professional Ethics in Dentistry Network or PEDNET, founded in 1987) integrated (on a trial basis) in the American College of Dentists (ACD). If no unexpected developments or problems arise, ASDE will become a non-geographically based Section of the ACD. Dental ethics is a comparatively small field, and a coordinated voice would be an advantage for two different organizations having complementary missions. The purpose of this alliance is stated to be the “combining the expertise and resources of both organizations to enable ASDE and ACD to enhance their scope, impact and visibility as leaders in advancing professional ethics in dentistry and dental education.”  The mission of the American College of Dentists is "to advance excellence, ethics, professionalism, and leadership in dentistry." The ACD is already very active in the field of dental ethics and various cooperative ventures have preceded this integration. For example, ASDE has been responsible for many years for the "Dental Ethics" section in the ACD journal.

Journal of the American College of Dentists
There exists at present no journal specifically devoted to the disciplines of dental ethics and law.  Consequently, the many articles that do appear annually (see also the "In the Literature" section in this Bulletin) are published in many different journals, making it hard for many interested persons to gain access. One of the journals which frequently contains articles relevant to dental ethics is the Journal of the American College of Dentists.  Readers are advised that back issues (prior to 2008) of this journal are on-line, free of charge, at the web side of the ACD at www.acd.org . In the upper menu bar, click on GENERAL, then PUBLICATIONS, then JACD and finally PREVIOUS ISSUES.