Caption: Ana, ADSA President 2026.

If I had to sum up ADSA's 2026 in one sentence, it would be this: dental students kept showing up in rooms we had never been in before. 

We stood in Parliament House at the ADA's Dentists on the Hill, telling MPs face-to-face what placement poverty does to students and why dental students belong in the Commonwealth Prac Payment. We took a seat at the first National Consortium of Dental Research, so the next decade of Australian oral health research is shaped with student voices in it, and are soon to launch a national survey so every student can weigh in. We built new bridges with the Australian Medical Students' Association and the wider profession, because the problems we face don't respect degree boundaries. 

Then, in Melbourne, we built a room of our own. After three years without a national convention, 230 students filled the Stamford Plaza Hotel in Melbourne CBD for three days: a tradeshow floor of 15 sponsors, a full day of lectures from 12 of the profession's best, and a Sunday where over 200 students prepped crowns, layered composites, learned to communicate and take photos, scanned each other and watched a crown designed, 3D printed and characterised in front of them. At the gala we gave awards to students whose community work usually goes unnoticed, in front of a ballroom of their peers. Looking around me all weekend I could not believe how eager and committed to learn the next generation of clinicians are. But none of this could’ve happened without my committee, our university societies, and partners like Dental Protection, who were with us in Melbourne and back students year after year - thank you. 

To every student reading this: you don't have to wait for graduation to shape this profession. Have the courage to walk in and make an impact. 

Caption: ADSA National Convention 2026, Melbourne