As we enter the 21st century, the American public faces significant oral health problems. Tooth decay and periodontal diseases continue to affect individuals across their life spans. Oral diseases place a major burden on the public in terms of pain and suffering, poor self-esteem, cost of treatment, and lost productivity from missed work or school days. With the release of Healthy People 2010 (the nation’s health promotion and disease prevention agenda) and the Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health, it is appropriate for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories (“States”) to lay the foundation needed to achieve the new national objectives. The Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors has conducted an analysis and developed a report focusing on building infrastructure and capacity for dental public health programs to perform core public health functions of assessment, policy development, and assurance. An infrastructure consists of systems, people, relationships, and the resources that would enable State oral health programs to perform these functions. Capacity enables the development of expertise and competence and the implementation of strategies. Building infrastructure and capacity is a high priority for State oral health programs since this will allow the States to achieve the new national objectives and improve the oral health of Americans. The key finding of the ASTDD report will be presented. Success in acquiring funds to expand infrastructure and capacity will enhance the States’ effectiveness to improve the oral health of Americans.
Learning Objectives: List core public health functions of highest priority to dental directors. Describe how improvements in capacity in oral health programs will contribute to progress in achieving Healthy People objectives.
Keywords: Oral Health, Public Health Infrastructure
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.