ADA News

St. Louis—With a focus on "Pursuing Excellence in Dental Public Health," nearly 800 participants representing public health, dental public health, government, business, foundations and private practice gathered April 25-28 for the 2010 National Oral Health Conference.

Oral health initiative: Participants at the 2010 National Oral Health Conference April 26 in St. Louis listen during the opening plenary session, "The Refresh Button: HHS Leadership and the New Oral Health Initiative."

The conference was presented by the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors and the American Association of Public Health Dentistry; co-sponsored by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and supported by the ADA.

"I am proud to reaffirm that the specialty of dental public health and all those who address the oral health needs of communities and the underserved are an integral part of our profession," said ADA President Ron Tankersley during welcoming remarks at the conference. "Promoting greater public/private collaboration to strengthen the dental public health infrastructure and the dental safety net that it supports is fundamental to improving the oral health of the nation, particularly for those populations at highest risk for oral disease. The ADA is committed to increasing public awareness of the important relationship of oral health to overall physical health, promoting prevention as the cornerstone for good oral health, improving health literacy among providers and consumers, and improving access to care."

Eighteen ADA leaders and staff attended the conference, some as presenters and some as participants, to focus on issues like health literacy, elder care, fluorides and fluoridation, access to care, collaborations with organized dentistry and more.

The conference offered more than 30 plenary and poster sessions, concurrent meetings and networking opportunities for more than 760 participants.

"I found the 2010 NOHC to be an outstanding event from start to finish," said Dr. Nolan Allen, a member of the ADA Council on Access, Prevention and Interprofessional Relations and a private practice dentist in Clearwater, Fla. "The plenary sessions were very informative, and the one and one-half hour evidence-based continuing education offerings presented a wide variety of topics and speakers. Additionally, these events were staged so that attendees were able to visit the exhibit hall and network with colleagues throughout the day."

Dr. Allen, a past president of the Florida Dental Association, is also a member of the ADA's National Elder Care Advisory Committee.

"The ADA and the public health community share common ground in the majority of issues covered at the conference," said Dr. Gary Davis, CAPIR vice chair and a practicing dentist in Shippensburg, Pa. "The ADA wants to collaborate on these areas of common ground. The National Oral Health Conference is the ideal place to network, listen to diverse opinions and to begin the process of collaborating to develop shared solutions."

Another CAPIR member, Dr. John Hanck, a general dentist in Fort Collins, Colo., was impressed with his first NOHC experience.

"It was almost like I discovered a parallel universe of people working hard to fight against decay and oral disease," said Dr. Hanck. "Presenters used very much a data and research emphasis, and they offered best practices on topics like fluoride varnish, examining questions like, 'Do they all work the same?' and 'Exactly how do they work?' and 'Does the resin inhibit the fluoride getting into the tooth?' It was a very interesting approach. I really enjoyed it. It was amazing to see the amount of effort that’s being put in around the country to try to increase oral health and to decrease early childhood decay."

CAPIR member Dr. A.J. Homicz, volunteer dental director at Families First Health Center in Portsmouth, N.H. and retired private practitioner, also attended the conference.

"It's important that participants from all the stakeholder groups remember that addressing issues like access to care and oral health in communities will require organized dentistry to respond and for the private sector to adapt to new demands," said Dr. Homicz. "The public and private can't be separate. The must form a continuum that addresses the oral health needs of all populations."