Community-Drive Planning for State Oral Health Policy and Programs: The South Carolina Story

Contained in Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General (2000) is a framework for action that outlines three specific steps: (1) change public perceptions; (2) change policymakers' perceptions; and (3) change health providers' perceptions. The South Carolina State Oral Health Plan strives to address all three challenges through an integrated approach using advisors, key stakeholders, and empowered communities. The document has been developed at the leadership of the Division of Oral Health at South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, its Advisory Council and Coalition, and facilitated by an external evaluator at the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health, Department of Health Services Policy and Management. The process used for its development is truly community-based and interactive, reflecting the plan's theoretical framework, PRECEDE/PROCEED. It addresses advocacy and policy, surveillance, social marketing, fluoridated water, workforce, chronic disease, and special populations. For each objective, there are corresponding references to historical documents and public health indicators. References to Healthy People 2010 and Title V National Performance Measures, where applicable, are provided for each objective. Relevant measurement information, such as existing baselines, the type of measure, and method of data collection are delineated for each objective.