Texas dental students learn about advocacy
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* Natalie McGill

Texas A&M University’s Baylor College of Dentistry students got their feet wet in the world of advocacy recently, thanks to the school’s American Student Dental Association chapter.

Chapter students created an Advocacy Academy in September where nearly 200 dental students learned about how bills are passed into laws, lobbying and oral health policy issues, such as community water fluoridation. Students participated in events such as a Teach Me How To Lobby lunch event and a Mock Congress where they saw a sample of the state’s legislative process in action.

Advocacy should be a priority for dental students who want to get everything they can out of their future practice, said Stephanie Ganter, a dental student and legislative liaison committee chair for the chapter.

“I’ve had classmates tell me to my face that they ‘just don’t care about advocacy,’” Ganter told *The Nation’s Health*. “What our Legislative Liaison Committee tends to focus on is what we can control: advertising the effects of advocacy on the future of dental practice, student debt and licensure. We can’t force anyone to care more about advocacy, but through a series of events like Advocacy Academy, we can use light, easy-to-understand methods that present advocacy for dental legislation in a creative fashion.”

Academy events led up to a Feb. 25 Lobby Day at the state capitol in Austin, Texas, where students partnered with a dentist experienced in oral health advocacy to lobby state legislators on issues such as access to care, patient protection and safety and dental school funding.

“This gives the opportunity for students to interact with their state representatives, build connections and lay the groundwork for a potentially symbiotic relationship,” Ganter said.

For more information, visit [www.bcdasda.org](http://www.bcdasda.org).

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association