ADA testifies on oral health initiative
Washington鈥擳he Association urged “a strong dental presence” in federal health agencies as the Institute of Medicine opened hearings March 31 on a potential national oral health initiative.
“We believe that each federal agency that has a dental component should have a chief dental officer with an identifiable budget,” Dr. Raymond Gist, ADA president-elect, testified. “The ADA believes that before the Department of Health and Human Services can take any action to improve oral health in America it must establish a strong dental presence in all of its agencies.” HHS directs many of the government’s public health activities.
The ADA called for dental leadership and expertise in the various disease prevention, health research, training and service agencies within HHS. “When an agency does not have a clearly identified dental division, with a chief dental officer and a specific budget line, its dental program鈥檚 success or failure becomes a product of the administration in power,” Dr. Gist said.
“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.”
The IOM invited ADA testimony as an ad hoc committee convened hearings on a potential oral health initiative. The panel was formed at the request of the HHS agency that administers service delivery and health professions training activities, the Health Resources and Services Administration. The committee chair, Richard D. Krugman, M.D., supports deans of the schools of dental medicine, pharmacy and public health, the college of nursing and the graduate school for the health sciences in his capacity as first vice chancellor for health affairs at the University of Colorado, Denver.
“The task being undertaken by this committee for the Institute of Medicine is to assess the current U.S. oral health system of care, examine preventive oral care interventions, their use and promotion, explore ways of improving health literacy for oral health, and review elements of a potential Department of Health and Human Services oral health initiative,” Dr. Krugman said in opening the hearing.
This is one of several meetings the committee will have, including a public workshop that will be part of the panel鈥檚 next meeting after the two-day opening session, part of which was closed to the public. The National Academy of Sciences’ IOM launched the two-year, two-part study that will address ways to improve access to care (ADA News Today March 5 ADA urges IOM study to include practicing dentists) and recommend actions HHS can take 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 committee will recommend actions that HHS can take to further these objectives and establish that oral health is part of overall health. The committee will review current relevant oral health care actions, the barriers to progress, and ways in which policy can improve access to oral health care.
The access and initiative committees, for now at least, are proceeding separately although some panelists have questioned the process and the potential for overlap. The Association offered testimony at each committee’s opening hearing.
Dr. Krugman, who chairs the initiative panel, described the March 31 hearing as an information gathering session. “The committee will deliberate thoroughly before writing its draft report,” he said.
“Moreover, once the draft report is written, it must go through a rigorous review by experts who are anonymous to the committee, and the committee then must respond to this review with appropriate revisions that adequately satisfy the Academies’ report review committee and the chair of the National Research Council before it is considered an NRC report,” Dr. Krugman added. “Therefore, observers who draw conclusions about the committee’s work based on today鈥檚 discussion will be doing so prematurely.”
The National Academy of Sciences has expanded into what is collectively known as the National Academies, which comprises the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Research Council, and the IOM.
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All audio of the oral health initiative public session as well as power point presentations will be posted at the project Web site after the March 31-April 1 meeting http://www.iom.edu/Activities/HealthServices/OralHealthInitiative/2010-MAR-31.aspx.