Daniel J. Klemmedson, DDS, MD, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon from Tucson, Ariz, is the new president-elect of the American Dental Association (ADA). He was elected at the World Dental Congress in San Francisco and will assume the role of ADA president in October 2020.

At the same meeting, Vincent U. Rapini, DDS, a dentist in St Louis, was elected second vice president, while Terry Fiddler, DDS, of Conway, Ark; Brett Kessler, DDS, of Denver; Richard J. Rosato, DMD, of Concord and Peterborough, NH; and Craig S. Armstrong, DDS, of Houston were installed as ADA trustees. W. Mark Donald, DMD, a general dentist in Louisville, Miss, was elected speaker of the ADA House of Delegates.

Since 2015, Klemmedson has served as the 14th District trustee to the ADA Board of Trustees and was a delegate in the ADA House of Delegates from 2004 to 2014. He is a past president of the Arizona Dental Association, the Southern Arizona Dental Society, the Western Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, and the Arizona Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. 

Over the course of his career, Klemmedson has earned a number of awards, including the Dentist of the Year award and the Hall of Fame Service award from the Arizona Dental Association. In 2018, he received the Gerald E. Hanson Outstanding Service Award from the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation.

Klemmedson is a member of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and is a fellow of the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology. He is also a member of the Academy of Dentistry International, American Cleft Palate–Craniofacial Association, and the American Medical Association. He has received fellowships from the American College of Dentists, International College of Dentists, and the Pierre Fauchard Academy.

A graduate of the University of Southern California (USC) School of Dentistry, Klemmedson earned his medical degree at the USC School of Medicine. In addition to maintaining a private practice in Tucson, he is an attending oral and maxillofacial surgeon on the cleft palate and craniofacial team at Children’s Clinics.