---
title: "What Is Dental society membership? Dental Practice Glossary"
description: "Belonging to a dental association at the local, state and national levels, which in the ADA's tripartite model usually means joining all three together."
url: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/dental-society-membership
publisher: Copeland Consulting Services
email: drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com
contact: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact
---

Organized dentistry

# Dental society membership

Belonging to a dental association at the local, state and national levels, which in the ADA's tripartite model usually means joining all three together.

Dental society membership means joining a dental association. The ADA describes member benefits as resources that help dentists thrive while helping drive change at the local, state and national level. In the tripartite model, members usually belong to all three levels.

The Missouri Dental Association explains that members belong to the American Dental Association and a local component society. Benefits can include continuing education, advocacy, networking and publications. Dues and terms differ among groups.

Membership is voluntary. See [organized dentistry](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/organized-dentistry) for the structure, the [American Dental Association](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/american-dental-association) for the national level, and [component dental society](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/component-dental-society) for the local level. This entry is a general definition. It does not urge anyone to join.

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## Related terms

-   [Organized dentistry](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/organized-dentistry)
-   [Component dental society](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/component-dental-society)
-   [American Dental Association](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/american-dental-association)
-   [Missouri Dental Association](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/missouri-dental-association)

## Sources

1.  [ADA, Membership](https://www.ada.org/membership)
2.  [Missouri Dental Association, About the MDA](https://www.modental.org/about-us)

## Talk with Dr. Copeland

[Contact Dr. Copeland](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact)[Email](mailto:drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com)