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Membership Requirements, Benefits & Dues
Membership Requirements, Benefits and Dues
Membership Requirements
The following are requirements to become a member of the CSDS:
- A dentist shall have graduated from an accredited dental school or program with the degree of D. D. S. (doctor of dental science or doctor of dental surgery)or D. M. D. (doctor of dental medicine or doctor of medical dentistry).
- The dentist shall be licensed to practice dentistry in Colorado. (Military dentists who practice exclusively at military dental facilities may not be required to hold Colorado licenses.
- The dentist’s credentials verifications must be complete.
- Dues and any assessments must be paid in full.
- The dentist must be approved for membership by the Colorado Springs Dental Society Board of Directors.
Membership Benefits?
Benefits of belonging to organized dentistry are from the American Dental Association, the Colorado Dental Association, and the Colorado Springs Dental Society.
The CDA annually publishes CDA Today which is a directory of benefits and services offered by the Colorado Dental Association. Their categories include these areas:
- annual meeting in June
- financial planning through Sharkey, Howes, Wagner, and Javer, Inc.
- financial planning through Xelan
- employee flexible benefit plans through Lidke & Associates
- insurance company and DMSO contract analysis
- managed-care kits
- discount credit card processing fees
- electronic claim service
- CDA speakers' bureau
- P. A. N. D. A.
- Quit the Spit
- Political Action, CODPAC, key contact program, and legislative programs
- Direct Reimbursement
- CDA Professional Liability Insurance (Berkley Risk Services)
- CDA Medical Benefit Plan
- Disability Income Insurance (DIS, Inc.)
- disability business overhead, property, and liability insurance
- workers compensation insurance
- home and auto umbrella insurance
- term life insurance
- variety of CDA councils.
The CSDS, as the component society, accesses services offered by the ADA and by the CDA. Membership in the CSDS provides additional benefits:
- participation on local committees
- continuing education and networking opportunities
- annual all-day program in the spring
- annual staff appreciation night
- collaboration with outreach programs, including dental hygiene society, dental assistants society, military dentists, Community Health Center, Silver Key, hospitals, and Pikes Peak Community College
- collaboration with the Colorado Springs Police Department regarding prescription drug abuse alerts
- Dentists With a Heart
- Children's Dental Health Month
- speakers' bureau
- participation in area health fairs and career days
- Melvin Turner Trust for Dental Care for Indigent Children
- dental history display at the Pioneer's Museum
- patient referrals
- assistance with locating office staff
- collaboration with the New Dentists' Forum
- Peer Review
- regular newsletters and mailings
- directory published annually
- access to in-house library
- office staffed by an executive director with 22 years of experience
- notary public offered at no fee
- CSDS' web site for Colorado Springs consumers and CSDS members
- Web site design discounts through Aspen Reflections, Inc.
- Discount programs with Phil Long Ford, Abba Eye Care, Voice Stream, and Alliance Mortgage
Membership Dues - Schedule of 2000 Dues and Deductibility
Deductibility: Changes in the tax laws incorporated in the 1993 deficit reduction legislation prohibit the deduction of expenses incurred
for lobbying. Therefore, only that portion of your ADA and CDA dues not used for lobbying may be deducted from your income taxes.Since the CSDS
incurs no lobbying expenses directly, all CSDS dues are deductible. For 2000 dues, the ADA estimates that 8.4% of your ADA dues are not
deductible, and the CDA estimates that 5% of CDA dues are not deductible.
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