Annual Meeting – October 2008 – San Diego

Registration and Hotel reservations – register by August 15, 2008 to get the lowest cost. Register earlier to ensure you get a hotel reservation. Oral Health Section oral and business sessions will be at the San Diego Marriott, adjacent to the Convention Center where the poster sessions will be held.

Many thanks to a record number of contributors.

Announcements have gone out to contributors who have submitted abstracts. This year, the APHA Oral Health Section will have 60 posters, with 20 on Sunday, Oct. 26, 30 on Monday, Oct. 27, and 10 on Wednesday, Oct. 29. There will be 15 oral presentations by contributors who submitted abstracts. Additionally, there will be seven invited sessions organized by members of the Program Planning Committee; many thanks to the dedication and hard work of those committee members under the direction of Program Chair Dr. Woosung Sohn.

For details on the Scientific Session go to http://apha.confex.com/apha/136am/webprogram/OH.html

Thanks to our Sponsors:  LCI Ltd; Colgate; and 3M-Omni.

Thanks to Tracy Finlayson, chair, local arrangements committee in San Diego, for making finding us a great and fun restaurant for the Monday night dinner (see below for details).

Thanks to Gary Podschun at ADA for providing CE Credit for dentists and dental hygienists. We hope this new feature will be a great success.

Thanks to those who helped with constructive suggestions to improve the two new resolutions/policy statements the Oral Health Section has submitted that will be voted on by the Governing Council at the Annual Meeting. These will be posted on the APHA Web site http://www.apha.org/advocacy/policy/2008ProposedPolicies.htm . These are: Opposition to Prophylactic Removal of Third Molars (Wisdom Teeth), authored by Jay Friedman; and Community Water Fluoridation in the U.S., authored by Howard Pollick.

Several Section members have provided testimony in support of maintaining oral health as a focus in Healthy People 2020 at recent hearings. Please contact me if you would like to see what I presented on behalf of the Oral Health Section.

65^th Anniversary of the OH Section

At the 2008 Annual Meeting, the Oral Health Section will celebrate its 65^th anniversary. We are seeking historical documents that will tell our story. So if you have something, please contact me at howard.pollick@ucsf.edu

San Diego City Council – Unanimous Vote for Fluoridation

I was fortunate to have been able to provide testimony and answer questions at the San Diego City Council hearing on fluoridation on June 10, 2008. The outcome will provide fluoridated water to the residents of San Diego, the largest U.S. city that had not yet been fluoridated. Georges Benjamin, MD, FACP, executive director of APHA, had signed a letter to the Mayor of San Diego supporting fluoridation for San Diego. Please contact howard.pollick@ucsf.edu if you would like a copy of the letter.

Monthly Conference Calls

The Oral Health Section leadership has had regular monthly conference calls that have been very useful in providing a forum for exchange of information and input from members as well as moving the Section ahead. In addition, the Program Planning Committee has had regular conference calls that have created what looks like the best scientific session ever.

See you in San Diego!

Submitted by Howard Pollick, BDS, MPH