Dear Fellow ODA Members,
The Ontario Dental Association has a rich history, one that was founded on philanthropy. Through my research of the ODA’s history, I discovered that it was the wives of dentists who initially created the ODA to serve their communities. Dentists were leaders in helping their communities by offering care, and this is a significant reason why dentistry was not included in Canada’s socialized healthcare system.
However, today, the ODA is no longer run by dentists but by its staff. Their primary concern does not seem to be serving the community or their dentist members. Instead, they appear more focused on being recognized as a “Top Employer.” How do they achieve that? By ensuring that the staff of our association are paid more than those of any other association. In short, they are misusing our membership dollars.
What value are we truly getting? Ask yourselves, fellow dentists, if the ODA didn’t hold a monopoly on iTrans/CDAnet, would you still be a member? I have yet to meet a single dentist who says yes.
We need an ODA that evolves with the times, one that prioritizes its members. We need transparency and accountability regarding how our money is being spent. When money is spent, we deserve to see clear value in return.
The ODA has two major responsibilities:
- To advance our profession’s reputation to the public, and
- To influence government decisions.
They have failed on both accounts. We used to be one of the most trusted professions, and now we are not. As for the second responsibility, the ODA had no say, nor was it even considered when the CDCP was created.
We need a new board that puts the members first and is ready to lead our profession through these changing times.
2 Responses
The ODA in its current form is a completely failure. The ODA has failed its members and will keep failing till they are all removed starting with the CEO. It’s not run for the benefit of dentists. The current President had his installation at the Ritz Carlton in Toronto and it is rumoured to have cost over half a million of our members dues for one night. Last year the board were wined and dined several times at our expense,one meal at the Ritz cost us $ 15,000. Thats almost $ 1000 per board member.
How do our members benefit from this kind of waste of our dues especially when the ODA has failed to deliver any tangible results in its advocacy.
Just a comm. At the last Council meeting I spoke with the board during a break and recommended that they add up total staff compensation including salaries and benefits and express this as a percentage of the yearly budget. That could be compared to other similar organizations and businesses of similar size.
Then just like the practice evaluations that the ODA provides ( or did provide when I ran my practice) we can see what the numbers look like in real world situations without giving private financial details.
I agree that there is a lack of transparency but let’s get our ducks in a row before tearing down the house.
Respectfully submitted to you my fellow dental professionals.
Peter Markle