Quick Bites:

• Dr. Linda Edgar’s term as ADA President came to an end at the association’s House of Delegates in October.
• Edgar was the fifth woman in 165 years to serve as President of the ADA. She is the second dentist – and only woman – from the state of Washington to attain this honor.
• She was also the second woman in 60 years to serve as President of the Academy of General Dentistry, making her one of only two people to have served as President of both ADA and AGD.
• Edgar believes strong organizations are crucial to represent the interests of the dental profession.

After completing her term as President of the American Dental Association last October, one might expect Dr. Linda Edgar to sit back, put her feet up, and take a deep breath.

However, anyone familiar with the former world-class triathlete knows that relaxation isn’t exactly her strong suit. As she discusses her experiences leading the national association, she is surrounded by stacks of neatly labeled moving boxes. She and her husband Bryan are trading in their long-time Federal Way home for a new one on Fox Island, near Gig Harbor. The move will allow the two retirees to be closer to their son and his family, most notably their 10- and 13-year-old granddaughters.

Nonetheless, Edgar has earned at least a short rest after a demanding year as the volunteer leader of the ADA’s nearly 160,000 member dentists.

"I knew it would be strenuous going in. But I didn't know that it would be 100-hour weeks," she said.

Frequent Flier

Edgar recalls many trips to ADA headquarters in Chicago as well as visits to various meetings and conferences in more than half of the states in the US. There were many early flights and many late returns. She was traveling nearly every week, and there were times when she was only home for four or five scattered days in a month. She racked up more than 130,000 air miles on Alaska Airlines alone during her year as president, and nearly 400,000 in total over the past two years.

“Everyone is so enthusiastic to have you attend their events. State and local leaders all across the country are glad to see you and hear what you have to say,” Edgar said. “At an event at Boston College, I told the story of losing two pregnancies and how I then got into dentistry. People came up to me afterward with tears in their eyes. I learned that to make a connection as a leader, you need to be willing to be vulnerable.”

In that regard, she commended current ADA President Brett Kessler, another triathlete, for discussing the work he has done to overcome addiction issues earlier in his career and for emphasizing wellness support and services for ADA members.

“Dentistry can be a lonely, competitive business. You need to keep trying, and sometimes you need a little help to keep moving forward. We need to support one another,” she said of the ADA’s focus on member wellness.

Responding (Or Not) to Critics

Another thing Edgar wasn’t fully prepared for was the amount of negativity that was sometimes directed toward ADA on social media.

“Some dentists want to blame ADA for the fact that insurance companies aren’t paying enough in reimbursements. There’s a lot of false information that gets circulated out there. Over time, I learned to quit responding and explaining. Sometimes people just want to vent, and they’re really not interested in the facts. I became much happier when I stopped looking at certain websites and posts,” she said.

Still, Edgar pointed out that ADA has spent more than $2.7 million promoting state laws to force insurance companies to increase their dental loss ratios – the percentage of premiums the companies collect that must be paid out in the form of patient benefits.

Under the McCarron-Ferguson act, states play a significant role in insurance regulation, requiring the battle for better transparency in dental benefits to be fought on many fronts. Despite the challenge this complex regulatory structure presents, Edgar sees ADA’s investments to promote new laws as an important example of how a strong national organization can help its members be more successful.

“It’s taking time, but these bills are starting to hold insurance companies more accountable,” she said. “Members need to see the results of what you’re spending their dues money on, and those results need to be applicable to their daily practice.”

Another area that Edgar believes is important is to resist the intrusion of undue regulation on the practice of dentistry.

“We are seeing regulations on how to clean equipment and sterilize instruments being created by people who don’t know anything about dentistry,” she said.

New Initiatives

Legislative and regulatory engagement was only part of Edgar’s agenda as president. She was also a strong supporter of the Lessons in a Lunchbox program, which helps elementary school students understand the importance of good oral hygiene and provides preventive care supplies.

“We have 20,000 lunchboxes ready for delivery. The boxes are free, with only a shipping charge to the local school where the presentation will take place. Every dentist who has sponsored the program reports great reactions from the kids,” she said, noting that it can help fill what she sees as an important gap in state health care policies. “I wish states would recognize the connection between good oral health and good overall health.”

During her term, ADA also entered into a partnership with the Dale Carnegie Institute to provide 1,000 subscriptions for interested dentists to take leadership training. The reaction among ADA members has been strong and the program is nearly fully subscribed.

ADA also began a major overhaul of its website and digital infrastructure and began to revamp its social media platforms. In addition to making them more user-friendly, one goal is to gather information from the membership to inform strategy development for the organization.

“Grassroots members have a lot of answers if you’ll just stop and listen for them,” Edgar said. “We’re just getting started on using technology to do that more effectively.”

Hitting the Ground Running

While many of the initiatives Edgar participated in during her presidential term were carefully planned out in advance and executed over time, there were also issues that arose and demanded the organization to react quickly.

“I was one week into my term when I got a call from (former ADA Executive Director) Ray Cohlmia that we needed to have a special board meeting. The meeting was to discuss a potential ADA merger with the Forsythe Institute,” she recalled.

The Forsythe merger has been a major success, according to Edgar. ADA has gone from receiving about $2 million in research-and-development grants annually to nearly $40 million. The results are wide-ranging and include new products that dentists can use in their daily practice, such as salivary diagnostics and new developments in artificial intelligence. 

ADA Forsythe is also a leader in research into the connection between what goes on in the mouth and what goes on in the rest of the body, helping to fill in the gap that Edgar sees in most state health care systems.

This sort of research reflects the forward-looking approach that Edgar believes is critical for the future of organized dentistry.

“I’ve seen first-hand how important it is that we are supporting our dental schools. We established a task force to identify strategies to reduce dental school tuition rates,” she said. “Students are graduating with amazing debt loads. They aren’t joining our associations because of that debt burden. One of our biggest challenges is reaching these younger dentists and helping them understand that we have their back. We need more mentorship connections, more dentists talking to one another.”

A New Economic Landscape

The changing economics of dentistry also mean that new and different practice models will need to be supported.

“It’s still possible, but it’s harder today to graduate dental school and immediately go out to start a practice with one dentist and three chairs,” Edgar said. “Average hygienist salaries have nearly doubled, supplies cost more, technology is expensive – and insurance reimbursements aren’t coming close to keeping pace. Dentists need to be more entrepreneurial to help their bottom lines and remain viable.”

Dealing with rising costs is a key factor in one trend that Edgar sees becoming more prevalent around the country: the creation of collaboratives made up of private practice dentists coming together. Such arrangements allow dentists to save money in purchasing supplies and by sharing expenses for administrative support, human resources, legal advice, and other businesses services.

“We’ve heard some pushback on this trend from some dentists who accuse ADA of pushing this model or ‘selling out.’ That’s not the case. It’s a trend that is happening as a rational response to changing economics, and we have to recognize it as such,” Edgar said.

Edgar also makes a distinction between these collaborative agreements and the more traditional Dental Service Organizations (DSOs) that hire dentists as employees. 

“About 13 percent of ADA members work in a DSO setting, but that number isn’t really growing,” she said. “The DSOs tend to churn through dentists; they lose about as many as they hire.”

Changing economics have prompted ADA to look at a new dues structure based on a lower-priced basic membership fee, coupled with the option of purchasing additional value-added services. The membership fee would be tiered to provide an even lower cost of entry for younger dentists who have recently graduated from dental school. Washington is one of the states participating in a pilot program to test the new model.

A Proud Washingtonian

Edgar is the second dentist from the state of Washington to serve as President of the ADA.

“My term confirmed the fact that Washington is one of the top states in terms of raising legislative issues and bringing them forward to ADA. It makes a big difference. We in the state are very fortunate to have the leadership we do, at both the staff and volunteer levels,” she said.

Washington may be an important contributor to ADA policies and programs, but its position in the far corner of the country gave Edgar some concerns when she decided to run for office.

“I was kind of surprised that I won, but I had experience in national leadership positions, and I think that helped,” Edgar said. She had previously served as President of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) and is now one of only two people to have been President of both AGD and ADA. (The other is Dr. Jeff Cole from Delaware, who was her immediate predecessor as President of AGD.)

“I’m very grateful and want to thank those who supported me emotionally and financially as I ran my campaign for ADA office.”

Moving Forward

Asked to offer some advice for dentists looking to move into leadership positions within organized dentistry, Edgar offers a clear roadmap.

“If you want to get involved, start at the local level. Societies always need committed volunteers to serve on committees. Attend meetings. Join a study club. Build your network. If you have special knowledge or expertise that you can share, talk to the ADA Trustee for our district, Dr. John Hisel, from Boise, Idaho,” she advised.

Having herself taken that journey to the highest volunteer position within ADA, Edgar looks back with satisfaction.

“It’s such an honor to be elected and to serve. You’re never totally satisfied, because not everything you start gets finished. During my term, we threw a lot of balls into the air, and I told Ray that I’d like it if we caught a few! It would be great if more non-members could see and appreciate the hard work that is being done on their behalf. Because without a strong association to represent you, watch out,” she said.

Now that her ADA term is over, don’t expect Edgar to slow down completely. She won’t be boarding as many flights, but she still plans to do some talks at conferences and graduation ceremonies when she’s invited.

And, of course, spend a lot more time with those granddaughters.” 

This article originally appeared in Issue 1, 2025 of the WSDA News.