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nmdental.org
legislative
adership
President’s Message
D. Greg LoPour, DDS
I
am grateful to have served as the President of the NMDA and honored to have repre-
sented our great profession on behalf of all of the members of the NMDA. I enjoyed the
opportunity to grow and learn regarding unchartered waters within our state’s legislature
and I treasure the many friendships formed along the way.
As I end my year as President, I now hold these two truths as paramount within our organization: First, we must continue
to insure the best health welfare for all New Mexicans. Second, we must have a strong and consistent presence in our
Local and State Government; and by we, I mean dentists, not just the lobbyists and small legislative teams representing
us. It is imperative that we as dentists serving New Mexico make our presence known in legislature, build relationships
with our local representatives, tell our stories of service and speak of the passion we have for taking care of our patients.
With the 60-day legislative session having come to a close for another year, I would like to thank our NMDA legislative
team led by Tom Schrimpsema and Joe Menapace. We were lucky to have had a tremendous amount of support from our
NMDA members when nearly 40 dentists from New Mexico appeared in Santa Fe during the legislative session to speak
in opposition of a dental therapy bill. I am happy to report that we were able to stop poorly written dental therapist bills
from being placed on the Governor’s desk for possible approval. Additionally, our practice act was renewed without change.
We need to continue to strengthen our relationships to these issues, searching for a common agreement for such changes
in the future without jeopardizing the standard of care for all people. We must be involved and take an active role in our
destiny. And, we must remain open to the possibility of finding middle ground and embracing change without lowering the
standard of dental care every New Mexican deserves. Should we fail to engage as individuals and as a professional association,
we will be faced with the same decay and disease that attacks our patients who remain passive about their dental health.
Each and every one of us must engage and bring our stories of service, contributions to community, our random acts of
kindness, donated dental services, our involvement with the New Mexico Mission of Mercy, Give Back a Smile Program
and the facilitating and caring for patients from Government-assisted programs--which pay as little as 30% of the usual
and customary fee. If we do not inform and educate state and local representatives of who we are and to whom we serve,
others will do this for us leading to misrepresentation.
I believe I can speak on behalf of all dentists in New Mexico when I say we love what we do and are passionate about how
we serve our patients, the level of care we extend to our patients and the joy we find in serving our communities. In order
to continue serving our patients and our community, we must not allow others to make decisions on our behalf regarding
how oral health care is delivered in our communities. We must deliver this truth and knowledge to our local and state
representatives alongside our legislative team. This is my challenge to you and this is my wish for each and every one of you.
Sincerely,
D. Greg LoPour, DDS
NMDA President 2014-2015
[email protected]| 505-298-7475
Colleagues and Friends