Oral Health: The National Oral Health Call To Action

Speaker:
Caswell Evans, DDS, MPH, Director, National Oral Health Initiatives

Program Description:
Dr. Caswell Evans discusses oral health from the perspective of the Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health and the recently released National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health. Oral health is a poorly understood and too often neglected aspect of our human condition. Oral health is important to our speech, affects everything we eat and drink, reflects our smile and self-image and is a determinant of how we are viewed by others. The oral tissues serve as both a portal and a barrier to infection. Oral health is associated with other health conditions, notably low birth weight and premature babies, cardiovascular disease, and poorer glycemic control in persons with diabetes. At the same time, access to needed oral health care services is a problem for many. Dr. Evans discusses the action agenda to improve understanding of oral health so that it becomes better integrated into general health and well-being.

Satellite broadcast originally aired July 17, 2003.