The ADA has installed Linda Edgar, DDS, as the association’s 160th president, having been an active member and leader in the organization for 30 years.

Linda J Edgar, DDS, is the newly installed 160th president of the American Dental Association (ADA). She served as president-elect, eleventh district trustee and a delegate to the ADA house prior to being installed as president.

An ADA member for over 30 years, Edgar has served as an alternate or delegate of the house of delegates from 1999 to 2018. She recently served on the ADA council of dental practice and has also previously sat on the ADA budget and finance committee and business innovation committee. Edgar was also a board representative and delegate to the FDI World Dental Federation and a board liaison to the American Student Dental Association, Membership Council, Commission on Dental Accreditation and the Specialty Recognition Commission.

Edgar was an active member of the Washington State Dental Association (WSDA) and served on its board of directors from 2016 to 2019.

Edgar says she intends to lead with forward thinking and has a vision of working with others to create a future of continued innovation, collaboration, advocacy and education. She aspires to find effective solutions to dental industry obstacles through hard work, perseverance, and inclusion.

“Together, we continue to thrive. I am eager to offer my contributions to the profession and organization that has immensely enriched my life,” said Edgar. “United by dentistry, with a strong community coast to coast, we are the changemakers that will inspire and improve the profession in the year ahead and for many more to come.”

The new ADA president graduated from the University of Washington Dental School, where she is part of its affiliate faculty. In 2010, she was awarded the Dean’s Lifetime Service Award, and from 2004 to 2005 Edgar was a co-founder of two endowments: the Endowment for Microscopic Implant and High Technologies in Dentistry Clinic and the Endowment for Digital Photography Imaging.

Among her recognitions, Edgar was honored with the AGD Mastership Award in 2002 and the AGD Lifelong Learning and Service Award in 2007. She is a fellow of the International College of Dentists, the American College of Dentists, Academy of Dentistry International and of the Pierre Fauchard Academy.

Edgar has owned and operated a 10-chair general dentistry private practice alongside her husband, Bryan Edgar, DDS, MAGD, for 30 years.

Photo via ADA