Healthy Mouths for Life

OHA, a national, non-profit organization, and Oral Healthcare Can’t Wait, an initiative of the DTA, co-host an event to recognize leaders who have championed the issue of oral health for at-risk communities and to recognize the impact of the now 10-year-old Surgeon General’s report, Oral Health in America.

The event will be from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Sept. 29, 2010, at the Rayburn Office Building, Room B340, in Washington, D.C.

OHA is promoting Fall for Smiles, a campaign urging families to include dental care in back-to-school and fall routines. A public opinion survey commissioned by OHA and sponsored by Oral Healthcare Can’t Wait and Plackers, a leading brand of consumer oral care products, found that two-thirds (65%) of parents are looking to schools to help reinforce the importance of oral health, and that children do not report brushing and flossing as often as their parents think they should.

OHA and Oral Healthcare Can’t Wait will lead the event and to honor advances in the nation’s oral health since 2000, when the U.S. Surgeon General’s office released Oral Health in America. OHA’s Board of Directors will present the Marvin Goldstein Award to Dr. George Blue Spruce, Jr., assistant dean for American Indian Affairs at Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health for his leadership in advancing care within the Native American and American Indian communities.

The Boards of Directors for OHA and the DTA will recognize the long-standing commitment of U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman to improve oral health.

Speakers, including Assistant Surgeon General and Chief Dental Officer of the U.S. Public Health Service Dr. William Bailey; Congressman Elijah Cummings; Rochelle Rollins, PhD, MPH, director of the Division of Policy and Data, Office of Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Gary Price, CEO, Dental Trade Alliance; Beth Truett, president and CEO, Oral Health America; and Tom Barman, director of marketing, Plackers, will also highlight challenges and opportunities to the nation’s oral health in the coming decade.

For more information, go to www.oralhealthamerica.org.

To read more about Oral Health America, go to Oral Health America.

To comment on this topic, go to community.pennwelldentalgroup.com/.