American Dental Association (ADA):The ADA's mission is to be the professional body for dentists, committed to serving both the public and the dental profession. It aims to enhance public health by ensuring member dentists provide high-quality, accessible oral care. The ADA supports the dental profession by upholding integrity and ethics, improving the patient-dentist relationship, and positioning membership as crucial for successful practice. It achieves its goals through various services and initiatives in education, research, advocacy, and standard-setting.Founded in August 1859 in Niagara Falls, N.Y., by 26 dentists from different U.S. dental societies, the ADA now boasts over 141,000 members, making it the largest and oldest national dental association worldwide. Its official publication is The Journal of the American Dental Association. Other publications include the ADA News and the Index to Dental Literature.The ADA's Council on Dental Education/Commission on Dental Accreditation is the recognized accrediting body for 1,242 dental and dental auxiliary educational programs in the U.S. The ADA's library is among the world's largest dental libraries, housing around 33,000 books, 17,500 bound journal volumes, and subscriptions to over 800 journals.The ADA officially recognizes eight dental specialties: dental public health, endodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, and prosthodontics.This information is summarized from the ADA website (www.ada.org).