Module 1 of the Oral Health Tutorial, a production of UT HSC Libraries. This module focuses on public health dentistry. View this tutorial to learn how to define public health dentistry and to identify professional resources to help stay informed of developments in public health dentistry. This tutorial is copyright Lara Sapp and Julie Gaines.

1. Toolkit for Dental
Health Professionals
Oral Health Information
Tutorial for Dental
Evidence-Based Dental Public Health
Public Health
Professionals
Data Tools and Statistics
Patient Information Purpose: Provides instruction for public health dental
practitioners that focuses on finding and evaluating
information relevant to public health dental practice.
This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human
Services, under Contract No. N01-LM-6-3505 under the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library.

2. Toolkit for Dental Public
Health Professionals

3. Objectives
 Define public health dentistry
 Identify professional resources to help you stay
informed of developments in public health dentistry

4. Definition
Dental public health is the science and art of
preventing and controlling dental diseases and
promoting dental health through organized
community efforts. It is that form of dental practice
that serves the community as a patient rather than
the individual.
American Association of Public Health Dentistry

5. Major Associations and Organizations
 American Association for Community Dental Programs
 American Association of Public Health Dentistry
- Competency Statements for Dental Public Health
 American Dental Hygienists’ Association

6. Major Associations and Organizations (cont.)
 American Dental Association
 Hispanic Dental Association
 American Public Health Association: Oral Health Section
 Centers for Disease Control: Division of Oral Health

7. Major Associations and Organizations (cont.)
 International Association for Disability and Oral Health
 National Dental Association
 National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center
 Public Health Foundation

8. Major Associations and Organizations (cont.)
 Texas Dental Association
 Texas Dental Hygienists’ Association
 Texas Dental Assistants Association

9. Education and Training
Accreditation Standards:
 American Dental Association: Accreditation Standards for

10. Education and Training
Residency and Fellowship Programs:
 American Association of Public Health Dentistry
 Association of Schools of Public Health
 National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)

11. Education and Training (cont.)
Continuing Education Programs:
 American Public Health Association
 TRAIN National
Note: many schools of public health also offer continuing education programs, including Harvard (Center for Continuing
Professional Education, www.hsph.harvard.edu/ccpe/); University of North Carolina (School of Public Health Office of
Continuing Education, http://www.sph.unc.edu/oce); University of Albany (Center for Public Health Continuing Education,
http://www.albany.edu/sph/coned/); and Johns Hopkins University (http://www.jhsph.edu/academics/continuing_ed/).
A list of Schools of Public Health is available on the website of the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) at
http://www.asph.org/.

12. Meetings and Conferences
 American Association for Community Dental Programs
The annual symposium is held as a pre-conference session to the
National Oral Health Conference.
 American Public Health Association
The APHA Annual Meeting & Exposition is the oldest and largest gathering
of public health professionals in the world.
 National Oral Health Conference
The National Oral Health Conference is sponsored by the
Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors, the
American Association of Public Health Dentistry, the
Health Resources and Services Administration, and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

13. Legislation and Policy
 American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
The mission of the AAPD is to advocate policies, guidelines and programs that
promote optimal oral health and oral health care for children.
 Center for Health Policy
A project of the School of Nursing at Columbia University, the Center is
working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to
document, analyze, and disseminate public health legal principles relating to
improved oral health through community water fluoridation, identifying the
legal boundaries and considerations that pervade debates about community
water fluoridation and thus furthering CDC’s goal of raising the proportion of
the population with access to fluoridated water.

14. Legislation and Policy (cont.)
 Healthy People 2010 Objectives for Oral Health
The overall goal of the Healthy People 2010 oral health objectives is to prevent and control oral and
craniofacial diseases, conditions, and injuries and improve access to related services.
 National Center for Fluoridation
NCF was created to provide information within that network of scientists, educators, public
officials, organizational representatives, and media concerned about the availability of reliable,
timely, and scientifically-based information about community water fluoridation.
 National Conference of State Legislatures: State Childrens’ Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Dental Care for Kid
The National Conference of State Legislatures is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators
and staffs of the nation's 50 states, its commonwealths and territories. NCSL provides research,
technical assistance and opportunities for policymakers to exchange ideas on the most pressing
state issues.

15. Public Health Dentistry Journals
Open Access Journals
 Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice
Provides a peer-reviewed forum for professionals to
contribute new findings to the literature.
 Bio Med Central
Peer-reviewed, scientific articles available in all areas
of medical research.

16. Public Health Dentistry Journals (cont.)
Open Access Journals
 Directory of Open Access Journals(DOAJ)
Categorized, searchable links to 3700 full-text scientific
and scholarly journals in all subjects and languages.
 Free Medical Journals
Full text medical journals categorized by specialty or
alphabetized by title; variety of languages.

17. Public Health Dentistry Journals (cont.)
 Journal of Public Health Dentistry
Original research, methods and review articles relevant to the
advancement of public health dentistry.
 Community Dental Health
Scientific articles concerned with disease prevention, health
service planning and health promotion.
 Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology
Behavioral sciences literature related to dentistry, health
services research and methodological reports.

18. Public Health Dentistry Journals (cont.)
 Journal of the American Dental Association
Reliable, peer-reviewed source of information on
dentistry and dental science.
 Journal of Dental Hygiene
Published by the American Dental Hygienists’
Association to provide refereed, original research
articles concerned with the practice and education of
dental hygiene.

19. Public Health Dentistry Journals (cont.)
 Journal of Dentistry for Children
Publishes topics related to the clinical care of children;
provides information on the physical, psychological and
emotional conditions of children related to and affecting
their dental health.
 Pediatric Dentistry
Includes scientific articles, case reports and abstracts of
current pediatric dental research.

20. Public Health Journals
 American Journal of Public Health
Publishes work that advances the field of public health research, policy,
practice and education.
 Public Health Reports
Publishes articles in three main areas: public health practice, research,
and viewpoints/commentaries with topics such as tobacco control,
teenage violence, occupational disease and injury and many others.
 Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
International journal that that contains all aspects of epidemiology
related to the study and improvement of communities.

21. Public Health Journals (cont.)
 American Journal of Epidemiology
For professionals who use epidemiological data. Publishes
empirical research findings, methodological developments
in the field of epidemiological research, and opinion pieces.
 Critical Public Health
Peer-reviewed, critical analyses of theory and practice for
researchers and practitioners working in public health,
health promotion and related fields.

22. E-Books
 National Library of Medicine (NLM) Bookshelf
Largest collection of biomedical textbooks that can be
searched directly from NLM.
 FreeBooks4Doctors
Freely available biomedical textbooks categorized by
specialty or alphabetized by title; variety of languages.

23. Reports and Other Publications
 Healthy People 2010 Oral Health Toolkit
Toolkit designed to help states, territories, tribes, and communities develop
programs that will in turn help eliminate oral health disparities and achieve the
nation's Healthy People 2010 oral health objectives.
 Journal articles written by CDC staff
 National Call to Promote Oral Health
Released by Department of Health and Human Services in 2003 to improve oral
health and prevent disease for all Americans.
 Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General (pdf)
In May 2000, Surgeon General David Satcher released this report on oral health
in America.

24. Literature and Guidelines
 ASTDD Guidelines for State & Territorial Oral Health Programs
Provide guidance to health agency officials and public health administrators
in the development and operation of oral health programs at the state level.
 Guidelines and Recommendations from the CDC
Guidelines and recommendations for community prevention programs,
fluoride, infection control, oral cancer, and water fluoridation.
 National Guideline Clearinghouse
The National Guideline Clearinghouse includes practice guidelines for dental
and oral care.

25. Grants and Funding Opportunities
 National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
 The American Dental Association Foundation (ADAF) Grants/Scholarships
 The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Grants On-Line Database (GOLD)
 Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Grant Opportunities

26. Professional Communication: Electronic Lists
 Community Oral Health Programs
Hosted by the National Maternal and Child Health Resource Center (
http://www.mchoralhealth.org) that discusses the operation of local oral
health programs.
 KidsOralHealth
State and federal oral health policies and programs hosted and maintained by
the National Maternal and Child Health Resource Center (
http://www.mchoralhealth.org).
 American Association of Public Health Dentistry
Discusses topics related to dental public health.

27. Professional Communication: Newsletters
 National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
 American Association for Community Dental Programs (AACDP): The Bellwether: Leading Local Efforts to
 Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD): Oral Health Matters
 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): Children's Oral Health Electronic Newsletter