What is the Tripartite Structure?

ADA membership is tripartite, meaning that members generally must belong to their constituent (state) and component (local) dental societies, as well as the ADA.

The ADA has 54 constituent dental societies and 520 component societies.

For Colorado, the state association is the Colorado Dental Association located in Denver. Dentists in the Pikes Peak region belong to the Colorado Springs Dental Society.

The exception to tripartite membership generally is reserved for military dentists and other special cases.