“I believe HSDM and the Initiative play a major role in advancing the conversation about integrated healthcare and serve as an example for other institutions in the country. We need better integration between oral and systemic health with dentists, physicians, and middle level providers working together."

Study Shows Nurse Practitioners to Be Vital Allies in Oral Health Care

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CIPCOH's Drs. Christine Riedy and Tien Jiang Featured on Podcast
 

In December, Dr.  Myriam Sidibe presented “The Business of Brushing Teeth and Oral Health: Are Brands the Best Actors to Sustainably Drive Health Gains at Scale?” to the HSDM community. Sidibe serves as the director of Social Mission for Unilever Africa and as a senior fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is one of the world’s leading experts on brands that drive health outcomes through mass behavioral change. Over the past 20 years, she has worked in more than 20 countries in Asia and Africa in both the public and private sectors, arguing for a more transparent relationship between the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, and advocating the need for businesses to gain growth and profits from engagement in social and health issues in order to build more sustainable, effective interventions. Sidibe is from Mali and holds a doctorate in Public Health from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Masters in Water and Waste Engineering from Loughborough University, UK.

In 2019, many states are likely to continue efforts to expand access to dental care to more of their residents through multiple approaches, including extending dental coverage to those newly eligible for Medicaid and making greater use of dental therapists.

The second Interprofessional Case Conference took place at MCPHS this fall; the event focused on diabetes, a disease with far-reaching effects on all aspects of a patient’s life and healthcare. Fourth-year pharmacy students were joined by students from the Northeastern University School of Nursing and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, plus guest faculty from both schools.

The Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine (OUWB) and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry will launch a new interprofessional course to educate medical and dental students on how healthcare professionals collaborate for the benefit of their patients. 

It's been established that poor dental hygiene has been linked to, or associated with, a range of health problems, some of them serious. And what many people fail to realize is that they can improve their chances of staying in good health if they simply made sure to take good care of their teeth.

"We can and should not accept that oral health is excluded from political declarations and most health policies. Unless we add our patients’ voices to our armamentaria of advocacy tools, our chance to include oral health in all policies and any future political declarations may be hopeless and doomed to fail. " writes Michael Glick, DMD.

Preventive Dental Care Associated with Fewer ED, Hospital Visits

Treating dental care like a population health management issue may help reduce avoidable ED visits and hospitalizations.

It’s no secret that medicine and dentistry have evolved an unnatural professional separation that is helpful to no one and often causes unnecessary suffering on the part of patients. But we’re in a moment—driven by our greater understanding of the links between medical and dental outcomes—where we can further integrate the two fields to better meet the needs of patients.

On October 25 and 26, the World Health Organization held a summit in Kazakhstan that included many Heads of State and resulted in the release of the Declaration of Astana, which has redefined primary health care and extended Alma-Ata. Dentistry now fits within this new definition, which will embolden oral health professionals in the cause for greater integration of oral health and medicine.