American Dental Association

The American Dental Association (ADA) is an American professional dental association. Established in 1859 and with over 159,000 current members, ADA is the world's largest and oldest national dental association. The organization lobbies on behalf of the American dental profession and provides dental accreditation.

The ADA publishes the Journal of the American Dental Association and JADA Foundational Science.

As part of its lobbying efforts, the ADA has sought to restrict non-dentists (such as dental hygienists and dental therapists) from providing basic dental care. The organization has played an important role in blocking the inclusion of dental coverage in Medicare. The ADA has expressed opposition to the opening of new dental schools or to increasing the number of dentists in the United States, even as the United States trains almost half as many dental students (relative to population) in the 2000s as it did in the 1980s.