MetLife Dental's Educational Offerings are Recognized by the American Dental Association.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

NEW YORK--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 30, 2002

MetLife today announced that it has been certified as a recognized continuing education provider by the American Dental Association (ADA) through its Continuing Education Recognition Program (CERP).

Dentists and allied health care professionals can earn continuing education credits by participating in educational offerings sponsored by the MetLife Quality Initiatives Program. The ADA certification means that these credits can be used towards satisfaction of the requirements of at least 35 of the 47 U.S. licensing jurisdictions that require continuing education. MetLife is the only commercial dental insurer whose educational offerings are currently approved for the ADA CERP.

For the past seven years, the MetLife Quality Initiatives Program has offered dentists high quality, cost-effective dental education in order to help dentists improve the oral health of their patients. MetLife Quality Resource Guides have been published on such subjects as disease management through risk assessment, radiographic quality assurance, and blood pressure monitoring in the dental setting.

"Education is essential to improving oral health care. It is gratifying that the American Dental Association has recognized MetLife's dedicated efforts in this regard," said Dr. James Kennedy, Dean Emeritus of the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine and Chair of the MetLife Dental Advisory Council. Formed in 1995, the MetLife Dental Advisory Council is comprised of practicing and academic dentists who oversee MetLife's Quality Initiatives Program.

Todd Katz, vice president, MetLife Dental Product, said, "The American Dental Association has established very rigorous certification standards, and MetLife is honored that its Quality Initiatives Program has received this noteworthy approval. MetLife has always believed that the best dental care is the care that is most appropriate for each individual patient, and our educational offerings are designed to allow dentists to make that determination."

MetLife is the largest independent dental carrier in the United States, administering dental benefits for over 18.7 million Americans at thousands of companies and organizations of all sizes.

The ADA is the professional association of dentists committed to the public's oral health, ethics, science and professional advancement; leading a unified profession through initiatives in advocacy, education, research and the development of standards.

The American Dental Association's Continuing Education Recognition Program (ADA CERP) has been in operation since 1993. The ADA CERP evaluates and approves institutions and organizations that provide continuing education (CE). Recognizing the need to offer its members and the dental community a way to select continuing education with confidence, the ADA started the ADA CERP in conjunction with a group of organizations representing the dental profession. The ADA CERP is managed by a standing committee of the Council on Dental Education and Licensure that includes representatives of the American Dental Association, the American Association of Dental Examiners, the American Dental Education Association, the Canadian Dental Association and the organizations representing the recognized dental specialties.

MetLife, a subsidiary of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), is a leading provider of insurance and other financial services to individual and institutional customers. The MetLife companies serve approximately nine million individual households in the U.S. and companies and institutions with 33 million employees and members. MetLife also has international insurance operations in 14 countries. For more information about MetLife, please visit the company's Web site at www.metlife.com. For more information about MetLife's Dental Benefits Program visit www.metdental.com.