ADA News
IOM invites ADA testimony on oral health initiative
Washington—The Association will urge "a strong dental presence" in federal health agencies as the Institute of Medicine opens hearings March 31 on "ways to increase public awareness of the relationship and importance of good oral health to good physical health; promote prevention and improve oral health literacy to health providers and the public; and recommend ways to improve access to oral health care."
The ADA in invited testimony on a potential Department of Health and Human Services oral health initiative says that without HHS leadership "federal oral health programs can be neither sustainable nor effective. The ADA believes that before HHS can take any action to improve oral health in America it must establish a strong dental presence in all of its health agencies," says Dr. Raymond Gist, ADA president-elect, in testimony prepared for a March 31 IOM hearing on a national oral health initiative.
HHS will have a lead role in implementing the Health Care and Reconciliation Act signed into law March 30 by President Obama.
Meanwhile, the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine launched a two-year, two-part study that will assess the current oral health care system (ADA News Today March 5 ADA urges IOM study to include practicing dentists) and recommend actions the Department of Health and Human Services can take to improve access to care http://www.iom.edu/Activities/HealthServices/OralHealthInitiative/2010-MAR-31.aspx.
The IOM invited ADA testimony at the initial hearings of the two committees which, for now at least, are proceeding separately although some panelists have questioned the process and the potential for overlap.
The ADA testimony on a national oral health initiative calls for dental leadership and expertise in the various disease prevention, health research, training and service agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services. "When an agency does not have a clearly identified dental division, with a chief dental officer and a specific budget line, its dental program's success or failure becomes a product of the administration in power," the Association says.
"We also recommend that the Department of Health and Human Services encourage all dental divisions to establish public-private collaborations to enhance projects to reduce oral disease and increase access to care."
