AIDPH hosted its annual colloquium “Reimagining Dental Health Through Resiliency and Community” on August 4 & 5, 2020. This colloquium was focused on strengthening our dental public community through imagining and exploring novel ideas and solutions to improve oral health equity in America.  Event speakers included experts from diverse fields to help us examine the roots of inequity in oral health and strategize solutions. 

Eleanor Fleming, DDS, MPH, PhD, Dental Epidemiologist, United States Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented Cross-Cutting Inequity in Oral Health. Her presentation focused on structural gaps within overlapping health sectors. She challenged participants to think critically about how to address systemic oral health inequity through individual and institutional growth.

She encouraged us to understand the significance of racism in oral health inequities and challenged us to focus on addressing the root causes of inequity when discussing promoting resilience. She discussed the social contract between the dental profession and the rest of society. She argues that we need another view of this social contract, not of fear or paternalism, but of seeking a fair community. She talked about the importance of having a “woke” profession, which promotes justice and anti-racism.

Watch her full presentation here. 

Chime in! What are your thoughts on the wokeness of the dental profession?

Post authored by:

Caitie Skaggs | AIDPH Staff

The American Institute of Dental Public Health

programs@aidph.org