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Advancing Oral Health in America (2011) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 1-14

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From page 1...
... has shown a fluctuating commitment to making oral health a national priority. More than 10 years ago, the surgeon general's landmark report Oral Health in America described the poor oral health of our nation as a "silent epidemic." Today, oral diseases remain prevalent across the country, especially in vulnerable and underserved populations.
From page 2...
... • Review elements of a potential HHS oral health initiative, including possible or current regulations, statutes, programs, research, data, financing, and policy. • Recommend strategic actions for HHS agencies and, if relevant and important, other actors, as well as ways to evaluate this initiative.
From page 3...
... THE CURRENT ROLE OF HHS HHS' efforts to improve oral health and oral health care have been wide ranging, but the priority placed on these endeavors, including financial support, has been inconsistent. Enduring areas of attention include support for community water fluoridation, research on the etiology of oral diseases, dental education, oral health financing, workforce demonstrations, oral health surveillance, and recruitment of oral health care professionals2 to work in underserved areas.
From page 4...
... LEARNING FROM THE PAST While the surgeon general's report was highly successful in many respects, it did not lead to a direct and immediate change in the government's approach to oral health. This may have been due to broader environmental factors, including immediate national crises; changes in the economy that affect state and federal budgets; competing health care priorities; a tendency to blame individual behaviors alone for poor oral health; a lack of political will; or simply the long-standing failure to recognize oral health as an integral part of overall health.
From page 5...
... Enhance the role of nondental health care professionals.a  6.  7 Expand oral health research, and improve data collection.
From page 6...
... More importantly, as better measures of quality in oral health are developed, more sophisticated goals can be set. Establishing and Evaluating the Oral Health Initiative The committee concluded that HHS has the ability and opportunity to play a vital role in the current oral health enterprise.
From page 7...
... HHS will also need to evaluate the adequacy of and support needed for the public health infrastructure to carry out these activities -- both at the federal and the state level. Improving Oral Health Literacy The public and health care professionals are largely unaware of the basic risk factors and preventive approaches for many oral diseases, and
From page 8...
... RECOMMENDATION 3: All relevant HHS agencies should undertake oral health literacy and education efforts aimed at individuals, com munities, and health care professionals. These efforts should include, but not be limited to: • Community-wide public education on the causes and implications of oral diseases and the effectiveness of preventive interventions; o Focus areas should include ■ The infectious nature of dental caries, ■ The effectiveness of fluorides and sealants, ■ The role of diet and nutrition in oral health, and ■ How oral diseases affect other health conditions.
From page 9...
... The nondental health care workforce has little education and training in the basics of oral health care and oral health literacy (e.g., being able to recognize oral diseases and disorders, teaching patients about self-care, understanding basic risk factors, applying topical fluorides)
From page 10...
... RECOMMENDATION 4: HHS should invest in workforce innova tions to improve oral health that focus on • Core competency development, education, and training, to allow for the use of all health care professionals in oral health care; • Interprofessional, team-based approaches to the prevention and treatment of oral diseases; • Best use of new and existing oral health care professionals; and • Increasing the diversity and improving the cultural competence of the workforce providing oral health care. In addition to the training and composition of the oral health workforce, more needs to be done to improve the delivery and financing of oral health care.
From page 11...
... For example, not enough is known about the best ways to decrease the significant oral health disparities or the best ways to change oral health behaviors. In addition, very few quality measures exist for oral health care, leading to little evidence not only about the quality of the services themselves but also about their ultimate relationship to long-term improvements in oral health.
From page 12...
... This meeting need not preclude additional meetings that HHS might hold internally without a public presence. LOOKING TO THE FUTURE As this committee looks to the future of HHS' involvement in oral health, questions arise regarding long-term viability both of maintaining oral health as a priority issue and the likelihood of the recommendations of this report coming to fruition.
From page 13...
... In addition, despite the announcement of the OHI 2010, the CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health does not list oral health among the "important topics that affect the health and well-being of children and adolescents" and the Administration on Aging does not have any specific initiatives related to the oral health of older adults. Similar to the need for consistent messages to patients and health care professionals about the importance of oral health, HHS needs consistent messaging within its own organization that oral health is a priority across the life span.
From page 14...
... Some of the specific objectives and strategies of this plan include ensuring access to quality, culturally competent care for vulnerable populations; strengthening oral health research; and promoting models of oral health care that use a variety of new and existing health care professionals. The recommendations of this report also align with the mission of HHS: "to enhance the health and well-being of Americans by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services." Bringing disparate sectors together to effect significant change is a daunting task, but it is well suited to the mission and responsibilities of HHS.


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