ADA and ASD Announce New Collaboration to Advance Sports Dentistry and Athlete Safety

The Academy for Sports Dentistry (ASD) is excited to share a major milestone for our profession: the American Dental Association (ADA) and ASD have entered into a new collaboration designed to advance oral health, expand educational opportunities, and strengthen the role of sports dentistry within the broader dental community.

This partnership brings together two respected organizations with a shared mission, promoting the highest standards of oral health care and elevating the safety and well-being of athletes at every level.

Why This Collaboration Matters

Sports dentistry has evolved significantly over the past several decades. Today, clinicians play an essential role not only in injury prevention but also in diagnosing, treating, and managing sports-related dental trauma. By partnering with the ADA, ASD is helping ensure that these important skills become more widely understood and integrated across general practice dentistry.

ASD President Michael Salyzyn, D.D.S., F.A.S.D., emphasized the impact of this new alliance:

“This affiliation opens doors for every dentist to utilize the specialized skills of sports dentistry in their practice. Together, we elevate the standard of care and champion innovation, ensuring our patients benefit from the best of both worlds.”

The ADA echoed this commitment. ADA President Richard Rosato, D.M.D., highlighted that  “A greater awareness of sports dentistry’s opportunities for our profession and its impact on the public’s oral and overall health will greatly benefit our dental community and the patients they serve.”

What’s Coming Next: Education and Professional Opportunities

Over the coming months, ASD and ADA may collaborate on several exciting initiatives that expand access to sports dentistry education and professional development, including:

New ADA Sports Dentistry CE Course

A comprehensive Sports Dentistry continuing education course that may be developed with assistance from ASD.

ADA Sports Dentistry Ambassador Group

A new ambassador program will help integrate sports dentistry knowledge and best practices into everyday dental settings, offering general dentists more tools to manage and prevent athletic dental injuries.

Outreach to Dental Students

Future initiatives will explore ways to introduce sports dentistry earlier in dental education, helping more students discover this rewarding and impactful specialty.

A Commitment to Protecting Athletes

ASD is deeply committed to improving oral health outcomes and promoting safer participation in sports. By expanding our reach, the organizations aims to:

• Expand public and professional awareness of sports dentistry

• Strengthen educational pathways for dental professionals

• Support research and innovation in the field

• Foster collaboration across dentistry, sports medicine, and athletic organizations

This partnership marks a significant step forward for ASD, one that enhances the visibility and credibility of sports dentistry while opening new opportunities for dentists worldwide. 

As we look ahead, this collaboration makes now the perfect time to deepen your expertise in sports dentistry. We encourage all dentists, members and newcomers alike, to register for the upcoming ASD Certified Sports Team Dentist Course  in February, 2026. This flagship program provides hands-on training, real-world protocols, and the essential skills needed to care for athletes safely and confidently. Whether you’re expanding your clinical offerings or stepping into team dentistry for the first time, this course is your gateway to becoming a trusted provider in the world of sports medicine.

ASD offers world-class continuing education, the Certified Sports Team Dentist program, and collaborative partnerships with organizations around the globe. To learn more, contact [email protected].

Special Olympics Special Smiles

HEALTHY ATHLETES®
Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® is the world’s largest public health program for people with intellectual disabilities—a population that faces dramatically greater health issues than others, yet frequently receives inadequate care or no care at all. At Healthy Athletes events, volunteer healthcare professionals provide athletes with free screenings and services in seven clinical areas.

Active in more than 100 countries, the program conducts nearly 200,000 screenings every year, gives referrals for follow-up care and provides tens of thousands of health-related products like prescription eyewear and hearing aids. By training more than 16,000 healthcare professionals and students annually on the specific needs of people with intellectual disabilities, the impact of Healthy Athletes extends far beyond the athletes seen at events. These volunteers return to their schools and medical practices with the knowledge, experience, and desire to better treat people with intellectual disabilities and become forceful advocates for meeting their needs.

Healthy Athletes currently offers health screenings in seven areas: Fit Feet (podiatry), FUNfitness (physical therapy), Health Promotion (better health and well-being), Healthy Hearing (audiology), MedFest (sports physical exam), Opening Eyes (vision) and Special Smiles (dentistry). Officially launched in 1997, Healthy Athletes organizes its events in a welcoming, fun environment. Its screenings educate athletes on healthy lifestyle choices and identify problems that may need additional follow-up.

Get Involved
Join the more than 90,000 health care providers and students worldwide who have volunteered with the Healthy Athletes program and changed the life of a person with intellectual disabilities. They came to help, but they discovered the experience helped them too, and in many cases, changed their lives. If you are a health care professional or student and want to volunteer to help at one of our health screening event, contact the Special Olympics Program closest to you.

What if you could help 200 million people worldwide who suffer needlessly from chronic pain and disease, blindness and hearing loss, shortened life span, and other health conditions? That's what we do everyday!

Why SOSS Volunteers Come Back
The health expertise volunteers possess spans the complete spectrum of medical disciplines from podiatry to dentistry to traditional sports medicine, but one thing they all have in common is the sense of accomplishment and joy they receive from working with athletes with intellectual disabilities at a Healthy Athletes venue. Many volunteers come back event after event for years and say they get more out of the experience than they give.