Reducing oral health disparities: Achieving Healthy People 2010 Objectives

Healthy People 2010 is a compilation of 10-year health objectives along with the targets to be met by 2010. There are two overarching goals associated with the Healthy People 2010: 1) increasing quality of life and 2) elimination of health disparities for all Americans. The Oral Health focus area is one of the 28 focus areas that make up these national objectives. The oral health focus area has 17 objectives with 11 sub-objectives. These objectives focus on several areas, including 8 objectives which monitor the oral health status of Americans, 5 that are associated with access to care and 4 that are related to a specific surveillance system. This presentation will highlight the midcourse review progress toward achieving these objectives with respect to their 2010 targets. The majority of the oral health objectives are moving toward their targets, however, their are a few objectives where their current estimates indicate that they moving away from their targets. Finally, the oral disparities which exist for specific objectives will be discussed.