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Foundation has provided funding to 20 states through its “Oral Health 2014” grants project. The grant program emphasizes prevention, and is designed to foster greater collaborations among not only dentistry and primary care medicine, but also faith-based organizations, public health and social service groups. An increasing number of private foundations are emphasizing the importance of joining forces and improving oral health collectively. More than two dozen national and regional philanthropic organizations meet quarterly as the Funders Oral Health Policy Group. They are strong and active voices in community health and national health policy discussions. They are creating new opportunities for public-private partnerships focused on innovations for better oral health in communities across the United States. States receiving CDC funding in 2013 CDC Funding of Prevention Programs Other funding sources for state programs include various federal agencies like the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The cooperative agreements between CDC and the states range from $235,000 to $355,000 per year and are renewable. The agency awards these funds with the aim of improving oral health by monitoring oral diseases and implementing and evaluating disease prevention measures such as community water fluoridation and school-based sealant programs. While the CDC funds are not earmarked for prevention, states tend to spend the bulk of the money on preventive measures. CDC provided funding to 20 states to strengthen their oral health programs. Grants to states totaled $6.8 million in 2013. Copyright ©2013 American Dental Association 6 Action for Dental Health: Bringing Disease Prevention into Communities The shame of it all is that we have some very wellunderstood preventive options, like water fluoridation and sealants. These measures can cut decay significantly, but we still have 80 million people without fluoridated water. And sealants? Well, we’re well below where we should be. Bill Bailey, D.D.S., acting director of CDC’s Oral Health Division Collaboration Between CDC and State Dental Directors The CDC, working with the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD), follows best practices for community oral health programs, including: 1. Surveillance, the ongoing systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data for use in planning and implementing public health practices. CDC, working with the ASTDD, has developed a series of basic screening surveys that are available for state dental programs to use in determining dental disease rates. Surveillance of this kind “is part of the public health model,” said Rear Admiral Dr. William Bailey, then-acting director of the CDC’s Division of Oral Health, and current chief dental officer of the U.S. Public Health Service. “It’s important to know what the problems might be before you can develop a program to address them.” Much more detailed surveillance information than that provided by the “basic screening surveys” is gathered by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which has gathered comprehensive health information from millions of Americans over the past 50 years. 2. Collaboration, including joint efforts among service agencies, health care provider groups, and patient advocacy organizations. The New York State Bureau of Dental Health used its 2012 CDC grant ($331,00) to support, strengthen and improve its fluoridation program, including monitoring systems and providing technical assistance at the community level. CDC funding also supports the Bureau’s promoting fluoridation through a statewide network of volunteer dentist speakers, collects data and evaluates existing oral health programs, including Medicaid dental services. According to bureau director Dr. Jayanth V. Kumar, CDC grants also free up state money for other successful programs, such as establishing, operating and monitoring dental clinics based in 956 schools across the state. “[S]ome are mobile, some are fixed,” he said. “Some are funded with private foundation dollars; some are funded with grant dollars.” The bureau has data showing that dental providers in communities with school-based programs have met the state’s target of sealing teeth in at least 50 percent of the children. Over the past five years, Maryland has received approximately $1.5 million in CDC prevention funds. “We used it to do a lot with our fluoridation program,” said Dr. Harry Goodman, director of the Maryland Office of Oral Health. “I can’t imagine where we’d be without the CDC.” The degree of resourcefulness that states put into extracting the maximum value out of these very limited funds is astounding. CDC should increase grant funding for state oral health programs