This special issue of the Journal of Public Health Dentistry inspires readers to consider how they can continue to advance health equity during “the worst of times for the specialty and for health.”
Read the special issue
Through this collection of editorials, articles, and commentaries, the authors hope to renew commitments, spark deep reflection, and support action to advance health equity in the areas of science, education, public health practice, workforce, and advocacy.
In his closing editorial, Dr. Caswell Evans urges readers to stay the course toward health equity, writing:
If the guiding light of health equity is extinguished, we are destined to the darkness of health inequity as the norm. The health of the public cannot be advanced under that standard.”
The special issue, with contributions and support from CareQuest Institute, explores the following topics:
- Moving Forward to Advance Health Equity: Elevating Best Practice in Science Education, Public Health Practice, Workforce, and Advocacy
- Association Between Perceived Racial Discrimination, Socioeconomic Status, and Oral Health Among Children: Evidence from the National Survey of Children’s Health 2016–2022
- Combating Misinformation in the Digital Age: A Machine Learning Approach to Protect Community Water Fluoridation and Promote Oral Health Equity
- Transforming Public Health Dentistry: Incorporating Social Mission into Dental Education
- Dental Public Health as Prime Catalyst for Advancing Solidarity and Accompaniment Within Dental Service-Learning and Community-Based Dental Education
- Combating the Silent Othering in Dental Education, Dental Public Health, and Community Health Practice to Advance Health Equity
- Expanding Oral Health Access and Equity: The Impact of Federally Qualified Health Centers
- Quality Improvement as a Tool for Health Equity: Perspectives from North Carolina
- Equitable Data Collection in Dental Public Health
- Advancing Oral Health in Puerto Rico: A Policy Success Story Featuring the Puerto Rico Oral Health Coalition
- Dental Therapy in the United States as a Public Health Imperative: Perspectives from the Front Lines
- Workforce Equity and Dental Health Aides in CHAP: A Scoping Review
- Policy Levers to Support the Transition from Pediatric to Adult Dental Care for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
- Recommitting Public Health Dentistry to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
- Beyond Charity: Systems-Change Philanthropy for Structural Health Equity in Oral Health
- Equity — A Commentary by Caswell A. Evans
Read the special issue of the Journal of Public Health Dentistry (open access)
You may also be interested in:
- Oral Health in America: Who Gets Left Behind?, findings from the latest State of Oral Health Equity in America survey reveal both progress and gaps in access to dental care.
- Framing for Oral Health Equity Now, a toolkit with strategies and examples to help oral health advocates communicate effectively about solutions to eliminate oral health disparities.
- How Ending Water Fluoridation Would Affect Children and State Medicaid Costs, a report finding that ending water fluoridation in just five states could cause 132,000 additional children to need cavities filled or teeth pulled, and cost state Medicaid programs nearly $40 million.