Date:
For Release: Immediately
Contact: HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343
Headline: NATIONAL STRATEGY SEEKS TO IMPROVE AMERICA'S
ORAL HEALTH
The Department of Health and Human Services today released a
National Call
to Action to Promote Oral Health
aimed at improving oral health and
preventing disease for all
Americans.
"This action strategy serves as a model of how the
nation's health can be
improved when we work together to
achieve common goals," HHS Secretary Tommy
G. Thompson said. "Oral health is integral to overall
health. It's critical
that we all work together to
improve the nation's oral health, especially
among children."
Surgeon General Richard Carmona
released the report at the 2003 National
Oral Health Conference in
Many Americans suffer from poor oral health. For
example, 22 percent of
adults reported some form of
oral-facial pain in the past six months. Pain
is a common symptom of craniofacial
disorders and interferes with vital
functions such as eating,
swallowing and speech. Among children, dental
caries (tooth decay) is the single
most common chronic childhood disease.
Oral and pharyngeal cancers, which are primarily diagnosed
in the elderly,
are diagnosed in about 30,000
Americans annually and 8,000 die from this
disease each year.
Oral diseases and disorders are progressive and cumulative
and become more
complex over time. If current
trends persist, millions of Americans will
needlessly lose teeth, endure pain,
and develop oral infections that can
contribute to worsened chronic
diseases, compromising their overall health
and well being.
"The prevention message we've been emphasizing all over
applicable for ensuring oral health
as it is for avoiding other chronic
conditions," Surgeon General Carmona said. "American students miss millions
of hours of school and adults miss
millions of hours of work each year due
to dental disease or visits.
By improving our nation's oral health, we
improve our nation's overall
health."
Nationally, children lose more than 51 million school hours
and adults lose
more than 164 million work hours
each year due to dental disease or dental
visits. The nation's total
bill for dental services was estimated to be
$70.1 billion in 2002 and this figure does not take include
indirect
expenses of oral health problems or
the cost of services by other health
care providers.
The National Call to Action marks the latest in an ongoing
effort to address
the country's oral health needs in
the new century. The National Call to
Action builds on Oral Health in
(May 2000) and the Healthy People 2010
oral health objectives. The new plan
seeks to expand these efforts by
enlisting the expertise of individuals,
health care providers, communities,
and policymakers at all levels of
society.
The National Call to Action identifies five action areas:
· Change perceptions of
oral health care;
· Overcome barriers to
care by replicating effective programs and
proven efforts;
· Build the science base
and accelerate science transfer;
· Increase oral health
workforce diversity, capacity and flexibility;
and
· Increase collaboration.
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materials are
available at www.hhs.gov/news