The Deschutes County Public Health Advisory Board will be holding an Oral Health Summit on Thursday, September 12, 6pm at St. Charles in Bend. This free summit is entitled Infectious Disease: Nothing to Smile About and will feature several nationally renown dental experts, as well as local public health.
The goal of the summit is to educate the community and professionals that cavities are a communicable infectious disease and the result of a transmissible bacterial infection passed from primary caregiver to child. Interventions beginning at conception carried throughout the lifetime by health care providers are the key. All health professionals, especially those working in maternal-child health and dentistry, and interested community members are encouraged to attend this event.
Advisory Board Chairperson, Kim Curley Reynolds noted, “Taking care of your teeth goes much deeper than brushing and flossing. A lifetime of good oral health will help the community stay healthy overall.” When you go to your dentist, you get a filling, but the cause of the cavity is still there. With any communicable disease, Public Health works to stop its spread through community prevention education. The Public Health Advisory Board felt it was time to get the message out that prevention at an early age is the key to better oral health, not just waiting until the infection manifests and then get a filling to solve the immediate problem.
In addition to the Thursday event, there will also be an Oral Health session on Friday morning at 7am at St. Charles as part of their Grand Rounds continuing education series. Please RSVP for the Thursday and Friday events at OHS@AdvantageDental.com. For more details about the events, please visit www.AdvantageDental.com/OHS.
