Retiring OSDA Director Recalls 30 Years of Service

As an energetic and idealistic gerontology student at the University of Oregon, Jim Davis was also a visionary. The issues associated with an aging population were barely on the national radar screen, yet he was well aware of what lay ahead. While Jim’s particular interest was mental health, all senior health care issues caught his attention. That is how he first came to learn about denturists, and thus began a relationship that has spanned three decades, one that was as personal for him as it was professional.

The year was 1976. Jim was both a student and the Executive Director of the Lane County Grey Panthers, and affordable dentures was an issue of concern to his group. “Ken Holden had come into the area and opened a denturist clinic”, he recalls. “I read in the newspaper that he was running into some problems. Others, including Ron Wyden, were saying that maybe we should still work with the dental association, and I said that that was ridiculous. I felt that we should support these people; that it was absolutely necessary to do so.”

Ken Holden remembers when he first met Jim. “I had heard that Ron Wyden was with the Grey Panthers, so I went to one of their meetings and met Jim there. He and I talked about denturism. Later he came to my office and became interested in what I was doing.”

A bill was scheduled to be introduced during the 1977 Oregon Legislative Session that would legalize denturism in the state, and Ken, along with a number of other denturists, had hired a lobbyist to work the session. Jim attended a number of local meetings called to plan their effort. They soon came to realize the value that Jim could bring to them. “Jim was critical, a tremendous resource”, Ken recalls. “It was hard for us to organize and sustain an effort on behalf of denturism. He knew the legislative ropes. He organized all of the seniors and that gave us more credibility and made us look good.”

The bill was strongly opposed by the Oregon Dental Association (ODA) and ultimately was defeated in a close vote. Soon afterward this group of practitioners, whose number included Ken Holden, Russ Dahl, Jon Stout, Jack Elvin, Ted and Darrel Dhein and Rod Jamison, began work on an initiative to accomplish what the bill could not. About a dozen pioneering denturists started practicing, and became the foundation for the battle, both by opening offices and providing financial support.

Coordinated by a Portland attorney and the lobbyists who worked the bill in the legislature, the initiative was created from the bill’s language, which allowed denturists to see patients, but only after an oral examination by a doctor or dentist. It also established an advisory council of denturists to participate in the oversight of denturist practices. When all was said and done, denturists had spent nearly $400,000 and the initiative passed by a four-to-one margin.

Soon after the initiative campaign successfully ended Jim moved to Washington DC, where his wife Lois became Chief of Staff for newly elected Oregon Senator Ron Wyden and he taught at the University of Maryland. Although not directly involved in Oregon denturism while there, he stayed in touch with those he had befriended, and the local advocates who continued to support and work on their behalf.

Although Jim’s life on the east coast was both fulfilling and enjoyable, in his heart he knew that returning to Oregon was more a question of when than if. The time arrived in 1987, when he accepted the position of administrator for the Oregon Senate Human Resources Committee. He also reconnected with his denturist friends, and four years later, Jim accepted the offer to become the OSDA’s Executive Director.

And he hit the ground running. “In 1991 the OSDA went to the legislature with a bill to transform the then-denturist advisory committee into a policy making board”, Jim recalls. “The ODA fought hard against us but we were successful. The passage of that bill marked the first time that they had been defeated in a legislative battle.”

That victory led to the creation of the Board of Denture Technology (BDT) and the revision of existing law to make it easier for denturists to practice. “Establishing the policy making board of denturists was critical for us”, Jim believes. “It gave us the opportunity to pass legislation to help the field develop and improve”.

In the years that followed the OSDA and ODA raged many battles; the most important, Jim believes began in 1999. That year the ODA tried to change administrative rule to take overdentures and implant dentures out of the denturist scope of practice and to punish dentists who worked with denturists. “That was a major challenge”, Jim recalls. “We fought them at the legislative rule level and won. Then the ODA took the case to the court of appeals, and we won there as well; that was a pivotal moment. After that win they knew that in future fights they were not going to be able to easily win against us.”

It was only a few years later that another initiative campaign began; one that would establish that denturists could provide patients with partial dentures and that denturists had the right to own clinics that also offered patients live tooth dental services. “That was a pivotal time”, Jim believes. “Our success in this initiative campaign demonstrated the clout we had and showed that denturism was an established profession with strong community support.”

It’s Jim’s opinion that the success that the OSDA has experienced over the years was due in large part to the support of the senior advocacy community. “I think that made a lot of difference, largely because the ODA did not have that kind of support. They had money and professional power, but they did not understand the importance of grassroots organizing.”

It also helped to have the strong leadership base we had back then. Those folks understood that they had to organize; they had to put money into it. Those pioneering denturists were strong leaders and good people; and good fighters, among the best I have ever seen.”

By 2008 it was clear that the big battles for denturism in Oregon had been fought and won and Jim began reflecting on the profession and his future involvement. “At heart, these are business people, not activists”, Jim believes. “And that had a lot to do with why I felt a change in the association’s executive leadership was appropriate at this time. My focus was on organizing grassroots campaigns and fighting the battles that needed to be fought. Now that the profession has been securely established, denturists, individually and through the OSDA, can focus on building their businesses, which is what they should do. But (business development) is not one of my strengths, and that’s why, when I started assessing my future role as Executive Director of the OSDA, I realized that as much as I love working with denturists it was time for me to move on.”

And so a long, storied chapter of denturism has come to a close. Jim is now focused on his true passion, advocating for the rights of seniors in Oregon and teaching others who choose to follow in his footsteps as a professor in Marylhurst University’s Gerontology Program. But he looks upon the last 30 years with fondness. “It’s been a wonderful time”, Jim admits, “one of the more important experiences in my professional life. I’m proud to have been part of the development of the denturist profession. I really appreciate having had the opportunity to work with these exceptional people.”