DentaQuest Foundation introduces toolkit

ST. LOUIS, Missouri--The DentaQuest Foundation has introduceda new electronic document of resources to serve professionals who are building community-based coalitions dedicated to oral health .

The toolkit debuted at the 2010 National Oral Health Conference in St. Louis. The Electronic Compendium of Resources for Building Oral Health Coalitions is available, free of charge, at www.dentaquestfoundation.org/compendium.

This document is one response to the United States Surgeon General's National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health. The Call to Action, issued in 2003, came three years after the United States' Surgeon General's report--Oral Health in America--which described oral disease as a "silent epidemic" afflicting the most vulnerable people in the nation.

"The Surgeon General emphasized that a key to meeting the goals identified in his Call to Action are strategies that enhance partnering," said Ralph Fuccillo, president of the DentaQuest Foundation.

"The interaction of the DentaQuest Foundation with coalitions across the United States shows us that communities have within them the insight and the power to bring about enduring improvements. We assembled this Electronic Compendium to support their efforts to keep their work active, vital, and effective."

The citations in the DentaQuest Foundation's encyclopedic electronic compendium link to free, full-text publications spanning the fields of communication, management practice, oral health, prevention, psychology, public health education, and public policy. Prominent among these resources are virtual public libraries covering aspects of
community-based coalition development.

Each hyperlink in the compendium, within the text and endnotes, links to free, full-text articles. In addition, the compendium includes an extensive bibliography that links to abstracts and materials offered for purchase only.

For more information, visit dentaquestfoundation.org.

To read more about the DentaQuest Foundation, go to www.dentistryiq.com/index/display/article-display/9367743790/articles/dentisryiq/industry/2010/04/coalition-releases.html.

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