Episode 27 - The Drill, JUNE 2026

SUMMARY: Ryan Dunn, CEO of the Virginia Dental Association, briefly discusses the 2026 General Assembly outcomes, noting that most workforce agenda bills were signed, while the budget (including community college hygiene program funding and Medicaid adult dental funding) remains unresolved and is being monitored. He outlines timelines for an expedited path for foreign-trained dentists to practice hygiene (Board of Dentistry action after July 1) and for dental assistants to perform supragingival scaling after completing VDA-offered training with a prerequisite of 1,800 clinical hours. He highlights the June 22 employment law updates webinar with Hancock & Daniel and the June 15 ADA Live webinar on contracts and coverage. The 2026 Virginia Dental Showcase is fast approaching, September 18–19 at the Omni Homestead, featuring CE and a financial course.

HOST: Ryan Dunn is the CEO of the Virginia Dental Association. Ryan has played major roles in four national and statewide Associations while also working on Capitol Hill. When he’s not talking all things dental, he’s talking about his family and baseball–and sometimes both at the same time.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

VIRGINIA IS CHANGING THE RULES: What Every Employer Needs to Know About Virginia's 2026-2028 Employment Law Updates

Live ADA seminars to tackle dentists’ biggest insurance issues

2026 Virginia Dental Showcase

 EPISODE CREDITS:

Producer: Paul Logan

Host: Ryan Dunn

Post-Production/Editor: Shannon Jacobs

Subscribe, share, and send your feedback and topic ideas to thefulcrumpodcast@vadental.org.

The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only, and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional, medical, or legal advice. 

Music in this episode from Epidemic Sound

Transcript

0:08

Hello and welcome to another episode of The Drill. I'm Ryan Dunn, CEO here at the Virginia Dental Association, and every episode of The Drill, we roll through our three main areas of focus as a part of the VDA strategic plan: powerful advocacy, practice success, and professional development. And with that, we're going to get into powerful advocacy. The VDA has had a very eventful 2026 General Assembly with a lot of great success. There was no shortage of issues, but we also had our workforce agenda that we put forward and are proud of the uh the work that has gone into that. And we're proud to say that our pieces of legislation have all been signed, except for our budget amendment that was going to add significant funding to the community college systems and their hygiene programs across the Commonwealth. But uh the VDA is continuing to monitor that because we do not have a budget yet. Uh, the General Assembly and the Governor have not been able to come to terms on what that uh budget should include and should not include. Uh, we maintain and continue to stay very active on that front. Also, the Medicaid funding uh for the adult dental program is also included in that budget. So we continue to monitor, uh, lobby, and educate around all of those issues. And we also had our dental assistants being able to supergenitively scale, and we had the expedited path for foreign-trained dentists to be able to practice hygiene in the Commonwealth. Uh, timeline on those bills, on the uh internationally trained dentists being able to uh have an expedited path to practice hygiene. The Board of Dentistry will be taking that on, and we will imagine in the next few months you will see some movement there. Uh, nothing will take place or move before July 1. Uh, so we will be relying on the Board of Dentistry to move that forward. On the dental assistants being able to supergenively scale, that is not something that's required action by the Board of Dentistry. However, uh, there is a lot of work to be done, and that is being done uh at the Virginia Dental Association as it relates to a dental assistant both receiving the clinical and the didactic training in order to uh supergenively scale in your practice. So July 1, that bill also will go into effect, but that does not mean that your dental assistant will just be able to start scaling. It actually means they've got to go through a program. Prerequisite-wise, they have to have 1,800 hours of clinical time already. This program will be offered through the VDA. The curriculum is being put together right now. Uh, we are working with the ADA to bring all of this together. Um, and we hope this is something that everyone will be very proud of. But so we look forward to that. We will continue to keep everybody updated as that continues to move forward. And our next area of focus as a part of the VDA strategic plan is practice success. And the VDA spends quite a bit of time making sure that the benefits and things that we're providing to you can help make your practice more successful. Some of that is just keeping you informed, some of it is offering uh great discounts and services through VDA member perks. But we also spend time making sure you're aware of when changes arise. And we are seeing there have been lots of changes on the employment law side of things. And so June 22nd, we're going to be releasing a webinar on Virginia employment law updates, changes for your dental practice and your employees, things that you need to know about what has changed and what goes into effect and what action is required come July 1 when some of these laws go into effect. Uh, there will be questions that you will probably be getting. There are things that you can and cannot ask during an interview. There's a paid family and medical leave program that launches. And honestly, it will be money out of your employees' paychecks, and you will probably need to answer some of these questions that you will be receiving. So we have some great detail about this on our website, uh, currently offering some questions and FAQs. But on June 22nd, we will be offering a webinar with our legal team from Hancock and Daniel that will be offering advice and running through exactly what is going into place on July 1, what action is required. We will be sending out more updates on that in the very near future. So we hope that you'll put that on your calendar for a time to join us. About a week before that, uh, in partnership with the ADA, on June 15th at 6 p.m., uh, there will be a webinar called ADA Live Navigating Contracts Coverage and Care with ADA experts. This is included in your membership and something that it would provide great value to you looking at topics such as PPO agreements, uh leasing agreements, reimbursements, and lack of dental plan assistance uh for out-of-network dentists, everyday issues that plague all of your offices. This is a great program, June 15th, 6 p.m., uh, ADA Live. And we'll also have some of that information on our website and in the digest. So please be on the lookout for that as well. And our third area of focus is professional development. And there is no better way to develop professionally than to attend the 2026 Virginia Dental Showcase that will be September 18th and 19th at the Omni Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia, America's first resort. Uh, if you have not been to the homestead, I hope you would take time to join us for this unique event in one of the most uh pristine resorts in all of the country. And it predates our country, actually. And in our 250th anniversary year of uh of our great country, uh, no better time than to be at the homestead. Uh there is a great lineup of CE speakers. There's plenty of downtime for you to be able to network, uh, spend time with friends and family. Uh, but we hope that you'll come uh take part in some of the amazing CE that's being offered, including a great course called Show Me the Money. In this course, you're gonna identify some key financial considerations that impact uh the profitability of a dental practice. You're gonna recognize some common financial risks and other schemes that are affecting dental practices and strategies uh to mitigate them. Also, going to look at some financial planning, lending strategies, and the likes. So that's just one of the courses uh that is gonna be offered. There are many speakers coming and some great CEs. So please take time to go online and register. Uh, bring your team, bring your family, make it an outing September 18th and 19th at the Omni Homestead for the 2026 Virginia Dental Showcase. We hope to see you there. And with that, that wraps up another episode. And I'm Ryan Dunn, making sure that you know the drill.