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Oral Health

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The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services was awarded a Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Cooperative Agreement for an Oral Health Program by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2003. The grant funds a state dental officer and the infrastructure to provide oral health leadership in the state.

CDC Report on Dental Caries

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention releases report on dental decay in Alaska Native children
• Dental Caries in Rural Alaska Native Children — Alaska, 2008

February News Flash

• February is Children’s Dental Health Month. Help your child learn more about their teeth and how to care for them so they last a life time. Check out the American Dental Hygienists Association website for Kids Stuff. 
  
• New Flash Archives

Major focus areas for the cooperative agreement include:

• Maintain a state oral health surveillance system;
• Convene a broad based oral health coalition to provide an advisory role for the oral health program and improve coordination/collaboration between public and private health systems that deliver and/or fund oral health services;
• Maintain a state community water fluoridation program;
• Develop and update a comprehensive State Oral Heath Plan for oral health promotion, disease prevention and control; and
• Coordinate development of school based/linked dental sealant programs.

Major Oral Health Program activities in 2012/13:

• Continue to work with the Alaska Dental Action Coalition on activities and policy development to address Medicaid dental participation and other dental access, prevention, education and workforce issues.
• Collaborate with the Coalition and stakeholders to revise the state oral health plan.
• Revise the state oral health surveillance system  to include indicators and data collection methods/sources for older Alaskans and include information from the 2010/2011 “Basic Screening Survey” dental assessments of kindergarten and third-grade Alaska children.
• Continue surveys (e.g., BRFSS oral health questions) and other data collection activities to assess the oral health status of Alaskans and evaluate preventive interventions (e.g., water fluoridation and dental sealants).
• Continue work with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to enter water system information in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "Water Fluoridation Reporting System" and recognize community water systems and water operators that achieve annual optimal fluoridation of the respective water systems.
• In conjunction with the Section of Health Planning & Systems Development (HPSD), prepare a report on dental workforce in Alaska along with an action plan to address identified problems.  Assist HPSD on federal funding targeted at dental provider loan repayment to address dental underserved areas of the state.