Hello, again, from your Section Chair.

I hope you’ve had a good Summer and you are, like the economy, feeling signs of recovery and stimulation. It remains a very active time at the national and state levels in public health, and I encourage you to stay active in APHA and the Oral Health Section. Thanks to our Editor, Jay Friedman, for this informative and interesting Newsletter issue.

Annual meeting: I am looking forward to seeing those of you attending our next Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Nov. 7-11, 2009. David Cappelli and the Program Planning Committee have developed an engaging and informative program that’s not to be missed. Thanks to David and all who have helped in creating a wonderful scientific program. The program and activities are displayed later in this Newsletter as well as online at the APHA Web site. If you haven’t registered yet, please join us! I especially invite you to attend the Knutson and Jong Award ceremony and Oral Health Section Dinner on Monday night, and the Oral Health Reception and Section Business Meeting (our general Section business meeting for all members) on Tuesday evening. These are great opportunities to meet your fellow Section members and learn more about the Section’s activities. The Section leadership will also be meeting on Sunday morning; this meeting is open to Section members, but the focus is more on the business and planning decisions of the Officers and Section Council. While at the Annual Meeting, please visit the Oral Health Section booth (or even better help staff it). New this year is a Scavenger Hunt, organized to encourage more attendees to visit the booths of the various APHA Sections.

Elections: Congratulations to our new officers ― Governing Councilor Woosung Song and Section Councilors Kathy Lituri and Gina Thornton-Evans ― who will begin their terms at the end of the November Meeting. We wish you well in your new role and look forward to your contributions to the Section and to APHA. Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote and to those who agreed to run. We’ll be seeking candidates for the next round of elections soon, so if you are interested in running, please contact Howard Pollick or myself.

Health Reform: Health reform continues to be the hot domestic issue of the year. I hope you have acted on my pleas to become ― and remain ― engaged in the process. This is a historic opportunity to strengthen public health and oral health capacity, as well as the overall health system. Your voice, and that of your family, friends, colleagues, and students, can help keep both public health and oral health in the legislative package.

Healthy People: HP2020 regional meetings to comment on draft HP2020 objectives are scheduled for: Kansas City, Kan., Oct. 22; Philadelphia, Nov. 7; Seattle, Nove. 20. Draft Objectives should be released prior to the Oct. 22 meeting. We will continue to work with a group of dental organizations coordinated by ASTDD to ensure that the voice of oral health is heard. If you plan to attend one of the meetings, please let me know. There should be an opportunity to comment online as well, as the process moves forward. See this link for information: http://www.healthypeople.gov/hp2020/regional/default.asp .

Policy promotion: As was mentioned in the last Newsletter, the Section leadership has been active in promoting some of APHA’s policies related to oral health. Most of the efforts have focused on our policy opposing prophylactic removal of third molars and the policy supporting dental therapists. Our work in promoting APHA’s policy on dental therapists in Minnesota was recently reported in The Nation’s Health September 2009 issue (see Items of Interest below for link). The Oral Health Section assisted Amos Deinard, chair of the Oral Health Section Policy Committee, in writing to about 30 members of the Minnesota State Senate concerning legislation to authorize training of mid-level dental practitioners ― Dental Therapists or Oral Health Practitioners. The letters supported the evidence-based position that a two-year training program for therapists would be sufficient and that such training does not have to be based in a dental school. We will continue to promote evidence-based policies in the arena of oral health.

Welcome to new members: For those of you new to the Oral Health Section, we welcome your involvement in Section’s activities, whether on a committee or by running for an office. And for those who have already served in a leadership capacity, give some thought to getting involved again. We would welcome your help on the Membership Committee, Policy Committee, to help staff the Section booth at the Annual Meeting, to contribute to the newsletter, and to help manage our Web site. We depend on Section volunteers to carry on the bulk of the Section’s business. Feel free to contact me or any member of the Section leadership.

Finally, APHA, like other associations, has suffered in this economic downturn. Please consider recruiting a member within your professional sphere and/or giving a donation to APHA this year.

Hope to see you in Philly!