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Health Secretary Urged to Focus on U.S. Oral Health
CHICAGO —A letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt urges increased focus on access to oral health care for our nation's children. Oral Health America today called on the senior Administration member to speak up for children's oral health, and invited him to visit oral health facilities in the Washington , DC , area and across the country. In a recent visit to Panama , Secretary Leavitt opened a health care training center and laid the groundwork for the Central American visit this summer of the USNS Comfort, a Navy medical ship, staffed by hundreds of doctors and nurses, which will emphasize oral health care. Secretary Leavitt said that we can provide oral health services “quite inexpensively and literally treat thousands” on the ship. “We are delighted with Secretary Leavitt's recognition that good oral health care is one of the most cost effective steps any country can take,” said Oral Health America President and CEO Robert Klaus. “We echo that good oral health is an essential part of overall health. Moreover, his visit highlights the need for action in the U.S. , where tooth decay is the number one chronic childhood disease.” Indeed, oral health care providers in the U.S. are treating some of the same conditions prevalent in Central America . By giving good oral health to children today, our nation can help reduce health care costs over a lifetime, and help prevent a growing list of ailments associated with poor oral health. Medical research is increasingly demonstrating links between poor oral health and chronic conditions including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, respiratory disease, and other costly illnesses. Oral Health America extended an offer to Secretary Leavitt to assist him and his office in seeing some of the best models our nation is putting forward to care for children's oral health. Oral Health America 's Smiles Across America program provides infrastructure development in seven regions of the country, and the organization works in partnership with hundreds of school oral health programs and community clinics to expand disease prevention and health promotion services.
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