Dr. Frank Recker was appointed on July 12, 2021, to the ADA's Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA).
Dr. Robert Zena, president of the American Association of Dental Boards (AADB), announced that the AADB's board of directors approved Recker by a unanimous vote. Recker is slated to a four-year term.
Dr. Michael W. Davis.Recker was the lead attorney for plaintiffs in numerous state and federal district court litigations for First Amendment right protections, representing emerging dental specialty groups. Defendants were various state regulatory dental boards, which only previously accepted the limited number of dental specialties approved by the ADA and CODA.
Recker's appointment to CODA represents a fairly revolutionary change in perspectives from the ADA and CODA. Recker was instrumental in challenging limited definitions of dental specialties.
Numerous courts have upheld a doctor's right of commercial free speech as well as a doctor's right to announce his or her credentialing. Courts have also challenged and generally overturned a state's ability to strictly defer to the ADA for designated dental specialties.
Today, the ADA recognizes 12 dental specialties. Recker's legal efforts were instrumental in approvals and formal recognition for specialists in dental anesthesiology (2019), orofacial pain (2020), and oral medicine (2020).
"I am honored by the AADB to have a unanimous board vote appointment as their representative to CODA," Recker stated. "They concluded that I could be objective, fair, and provide honest and unbiased opinions on anything under the CODA purview."
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