Surgeon General Richard Carmona, M.D., April 29 unveiled the results of the "National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health," a report developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in consultation with 70 health organizations that included the ADA.
In doing so, Dr. Carmona appealed to health professionals to use the Call to Action as a tool to set in motion programs and initiatives to reduce oral health disparities that are spelled out in the landmark 2000 surgeon general’s report on Oral Health in America.
"Today is a day of change," said the surgeon general. "Today is the day we send our oral health work force into action with specific charges."
The Call to Action revolves around a set of five principal actions that describe the necessary steps toward ensuring that all Americans achieve optimal oral health. They include
- – changing perceptions of oral health care;
- – overcoming barriers to care using proven models and programs;
- – building the science base and accelerating science transfer;
- – increasing oral health care work force diversity, capacity and flexibility;
- – increasing collaboration.
Most notably, Dr. Carmona said the Call to Action "puts a face on oral health" and shows the vital role that oral health care has in developing national public policy.
ADA President T. Howard Jones and Executive Director James B. Bramson expressed their satisfaction in seeing the new emphasis on oral health that is reflected by the surgeon general’s report and the Call to Action. Drs. Jones and Bramson have pledged the ADA’s cooperation with other partners in the oral health community to see that these goals are realized.
Dr. Dushanka V. Kleinman, chief dental officer, U.S. Public Health Service, noted that calls to action are relatively new with the federal government.
As in the case of the National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health, the message is aimed at organizations, not the public.
"We are the oral health conscience to make this happen," she said.
The occasion for launching the Call to Action was the 2003 National Oral Health Conference. Held in Milwaukee, this was the fourth joint annual meeting between the American Association of Public Health Dentistry and the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors and its sponsors: the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A group of about 600 attended—including dentists, hygienists, researchers, dental and general health educators, legislators, public health officials, dental organizations, Medicaid dental program representatives, state/territorial dental directors, community health center personnel, U.S. Public Health Service officers and dental students.
The diversity of the audience fit well with the surgeon general’s call for public-private collaboration toward reducing the incidence of oral health disease.
"If we don’t work together, we are going to fail," Dr. Carmona said.
He went on to commend dental professionals and public health officials for their emphasis on prevention.
"We are a treatment-oriented society but to be successful, we have to emphasize prevention," he said. "If we don’t eliminate the disease burden on society, we are all going to pay, our children are going to pay, and our grandchildren are going to pay."
The Call to Action is the result of listening sessions held by the 70-member "Partnership Network" that includes the ADA.
Held in several metropolitan areas over the past two years, these events enabled concerned citizens to address the inequities in oral health affecting their communities and to discuss programs and ideas that resolve these issues. The ADA promoted the listening sessions and encouraged member dentists and state and local societies to provide testimony.
In a closed meeting before the Call to Action’s release, the surgeon general thanked representatives of the partnership network and implored them to continue their work.
"This is not a call to talk, it’s a call to action," Dr. Caswell Evans, director of the Oral Health Initiative, Office of the Surgeon General, told the partners. "It’s back in our hands now. We can’t wait for some cavalry to come over the hill and do it."
A tangible way for dentists to support the Call to Action is to promote "health literacy" among patients in a culturally sensitive manner.
"We have a lot of good science, so how do we get it to the people?" asked Dr. Carmona. "The best messages are developed by the community, and by those who are part of the community who understand the culture."
The issues laid out in the 2000 surgeon general’s report hit home for Dr. Carmona.
Noting the oral health disease that disproportionately affects the impoverished and racial and ethnic minorities, he reflected on his childhood and "the trials and tribulations of growing up poor and Hispanic."
"Retrospectively speaking, I was one of those disparities," he said.
"I am pleased with the leadership on Dr. Carmona’s part in implementing the findings of the surgeon general’s report, and the role he took in bringing the National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health to the forefront," said Dr. William Maas, president of the American Association of Public Health Dentists.
Dr. Maas said that now it is up to the health professions to forge meaningful collaborations toward reducing oral health disease, and increased collaboration among dentists and other health professionals, and local and state health departments.
"The Call to Action is not a blueprint," said Dr. Maas. "This is how we will amass the work force resources to meet the needs with measurable outcomes."
The outcomes are those of Healthy People 2010, the DHHS’s national health objectives designed to identify the most significant preventable threats to health and to establish national goals to reduce these threats ("www.healthypeople.gov").
"It’s great to know that our leaders recognize that health care doesn’t end at the neck," said Dr. Lynn D. Mouden, director of the Arkansas Office of Oral Health and president of the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors.
Dr. Mouden said that dental directors will use the Call to Action to lobby state governments to increase funding and expand oral health programs. "They can take this to their legislatures and say, ‘This is what the nation is choosing to do.’ Even in the face of budgetary cutbacks—many states have considered or are considering doing away with Medicaid dental coverage for adults—the Call to Action "will make sure that Medicaid keeps oral health on the radar screen," said Dr. Mouden.
To view and download the National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health, go to "www.nidcr.nih.gov/sgr/CallToAction.asp".
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