Oral

Dental professionals are an “underutilized” resource when it comes to advocating for oral disease prevention and oral health promotion at the population level. This session will discuss three projects that are funded by the Health and Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers of Disease Control Prevention. The projects are independently developing competencies and curriculum for pre-doctoral dental and dental hygiene programs to educate an oral health workforce of dentists and dental hygienists that will be prepared to meet the oral health needs of the population, especially groups who are vulnerable and underserved. By increasing the dental public health knowledge and competency of all graduating dental providers from dental and dental hygiene schools, dental professionals will be able to advocate for population-based approaches to preventing oral diseases rather than the existing focus of solely treating oral disease., The goal of these programs is to increase the number of providers who can address the unmet oral health needs and challenges at a population level, both in private practices and publicly supported clinics.

Session Objectives: Describe the need for developing competencies and curriculum in dental public health for pre-doctoral dental and dental hygiene programs Describe the process used to develop the competencies and curriculum Discuss major themes identified to be included in the curriculum

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH) , Masters Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES)