Oral Health

Boards of health are responsible for assuring the provision of adequate public health services in their communities, including protecting the public from oral health risks. A board of health’s role is to assess a community’s oral health needs and concerns and develop or recommend policies, procedures, and programs to meet those needs.

Oral health means much more than healthy teeth. It means being free from chronic oral-facial pain conditions, oral and pharyngeal (throat) cancers, oral soft tissue legions, birth defects such as cleft lip and palate, and many other diseases and disorders that affect the oral, dental, and craniofacial tissues. Oral health is essential to general health, and must be included in the provision of health care and design of community programs.

BEST PRACTICES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

American Association for Community Dental Programs (AACDP): Model Framework for Community Oral Health Programs Based Upon the Ten Essential Public Health Services

Association for State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD): Proven and Promising Best Practices for State and Community Oral Health Programs

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): CDC’s Oral Health Strategic Plan for 2011-2015

Health and Human Services (HHS): HHS Oral Health Initiative 2010

Healthy People 2020: Oral Health

Institute of Medicine: Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations (2011)

The Guide to Community Preventive Services: Oral Health

United States Surgeon General: Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General (2000)

ACCESSING ORAL HEALTH

Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD)
Assessing Oral Health Needs: ASTDD Seven-Step Model

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
Oral Health Risk Assessment Tool

FLUORIDATION RESOURCES

American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD): Ask Your Dentist About Fluoride Brochure

American Dental Association (ADA): Fluoride and Fluoridation

American Public Health Association (APHA): Community Water Fluoridation in the United States

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): My Water’s Fluoride
Community Water Fluoridation

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Basic Information about Fluoride in Drinking Water

FLUID: Fluoride Legislative User Information Database (FLUID)

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR): Community Water Fluoridation Status by State

National Research Council: Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA’s Standards

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): Proposed HHS Recommendation for Fluoride Concentration in Drinking Water for Prevention of Dental Caries

DENTAL SEALANT RESOURCES

American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD): Ask Your Dentist About Sealants Brochure

American Association for Community Dental Programs (AACDP): Seal America: The Prevention Invention

Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD): School-Based Dental Sealant Programs

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): School-Based Dental Sealant Programs

ORAL HEALTH TRAININGS

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Oral Health Initiative: Protecting All Children’s Teeth (PACT)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): CDC-Sponsored Water Fluoridation Training

National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP): Oral Health
Moving Forward Together: Implementing New Oral Health Provisions at the State Level (Webinar)

Open Wide: Oral Health Training for Health Professionals

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

American Dental Association

Delta Dental

Grants.gov

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)

Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children

Oral Health America

NALBOH Community Health Pages

Community Health Status Indicators

Community Guide

Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity

Tobacco Use Prevention and Control

Tobacco Resources & Publications

For questions or more information about NALBOH's community health programs, please contact Tricia Valasek.

Page Updated 8/16/2011.