Oregon has one of the country’s highest rates of childhood dental disease, which is the most common chronic disease affecting U.S. children. As Dr. Weston Heringer Jr. of The Dental Foundation of Oregon recently reported, “We have as much dental disease in Oregon as there is anywhere else in the world.”
The causes of this epidemic include inadequate education, economic hardship, lack of dental insurance and limited access to services. If left untreated, dental disease can be devastating to children’s health, educational success, productivity and self-image.
These outcomes are particularly tragic because most dental disease is preventable. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “the combination of dental sealants and fluoride has the potential to nearly eliminate tooth decay in school-age children.”
Preventing tooth decay isn’t just good medical practice; it also makes good economic sense. The cost of effective early intervention is negligible compared to the social and economic costs of widespread, untreated dental disease. As an example, the CDC estimates that every dollar spent annually on water fluoridation saves $38 in dental treatment costs.
Furthermore, current medical research indicates that dental disease can play a significant role in many other medical conditions, including heart and respiratory disease. As retired state dental director Dr. Gordon Empey notes, “It is not possible to have a healthy body with an unhealthy mouth. Oral health is integral to general health."
As part of its mission to improve Oregonians’ health, productivity and quality of life, OCF has funded important children’s dental health initiatives for Southern Willamette Valley and the South Coast. Due to the success of these Regional Action Initiatives, and the urgent statewide need for early intervention, OCF joined with other funders to host the Open Wide Summit for Oral Health Funders on May 9, 2011. As a result of this summit, they formally established the Oral Health Funders Collaborative in September 2011. This collaborative is coordinated by Annette Leong, who has led Southern Willamette Valley’s dental health initiative since 2008.
On April 18, 2012, the Oral Health Funders Collaborative held a member briefing in Bend. Dr. Bruce Goldberg, Director of the Oregon Health Authority, spoke on the importance of preventing dental disease through education and emphasized the need to raise public awareness of community accountability for improving dental health.
OCF’s goal is to build partnerships with other funders to improve children’s dental health statewide through such measures as bringing dental screening and services into schools, educating Oregonians on the preventable toll of dental disease and developing infrastructure that will provide wider access to dental care.
To get involved or contact us
If you are interested in supporting or learning more about the Oral Health Funders Collaborative, please contact Annette Leong at a3leong@msn.com or 541.744.7337; or Melissa Durham at mdurham@oregoncf.org or 503.227.6846.