823: Oral Health Is Public Health, Islands Offer Workforce Development Strategies

JANSON SILVERS: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Wednesday, January 15, 2025. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

RUSSELL DUNKEL: 

The ASTDD serves as basically like a conduit for helping all state dental directors nationally, basically working with issues like community water fluoridation, other topics that come up, such as healthy aging, working with the aging populations, preparing papers for that.

SILVERS: 

The Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors is part of ASTHO's Affiliate Council, a group that works toward a dedicated mission of promoting and protecting public health. Dr. Russell Dunkel is the president of the dental organization, and says dental health plays a key role in public health.

DUNKEL: 

The way I look at it as well is we're also involved in what's called medical-dentalal integration, which means it's not just teeth, it's a whole body concept because systems don't separate, and that's how you treat it.

SILVERS: 

Dunkel says the connection between oral hygiene and population health is straightforward. Dunkel gives an example of a child in school with oral issues.

DUNKEL: 

Because what happens like for- with kids, if they get, you know, advanced or extensive decay, it's a pain response. It can reduce their eating habits. The pain prevents them from concentrating properly at school. It is the major factor, or one of the highest factors, for causes of absenteeism in schools.

SILVERS: 

Among other public health issues, the organization takes an interest in is added fluoride in water, which Dunkel says has been assisting the population's dental health for decades.

DUNKEL: 

One of the biggest ways we look at it is that this certain level, it's been determined that this can help protect the teeth from breakdown so, it actually reduces decay.

SILVERS: 

Learn more about the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors and ASTHO's Affiliate Council by clicking the links in the show notes.

A recent ASTHO report focuses on addressing workforce challenges using island-centric strategies. Keith A. James with the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Health, says the work being done in the Island Areas is something others can learn from.

KEITH A. JAMES: 

Despite the limited resources these jurisdictions have, they were able to implement evidence-based practices that deliver results, in some cases, exceeding some of the larger jurisdictions with more funding.

SILVERS: 

James says, while many island areas lack certain resources, they make up for it with their expertise in logistics and operations.

JAMES: 

The island area jurisdictions are subject matter experts in managing the unique logistical and operational challenges specific to their jurisdictions. One of the things, through the Learning Lab Series, that we did is we've seen how these jurisdictions share common challenges, making it clear that the collective approach is crucial among the island areas or territories and freely associated states.

SILVERS: 

Ultimately, James wants public health leaders to understand that tailored funding to strengthen the workforce in island area jurisdictions would have a significant impact.

JAMES: 

By investing in workforce development alongside infrastructure resources, we can ensure that the island communities are equipped to respond to public health needs efficiently.

SILVERS: 

You can find the full report on ASTHO's website. There's a link in the show notes.

Also, make sure you check out ASTHO's most popular resources of 2024. This newscast will continue highlighting them throughout the month, but you can find out what others were most interested in by reading the blog article on ASTHO's website. We have a link to that article in the show notes.

Finally, this morning, Congress is back in full force, which means decisions that impact public health are being made each and every day. Make sure you are in the know by signing up for ASTHO's Legislative Alerts, as always, the show notes have a link.

That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Janson Silvers. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.