As a board-eligible public health dentist with experience in federally qualified health centers and safety net dental programs, I’ve seen firsthand how oral health policies shape access to care. Now, as a policy consultant for my state’s Medicaid dental program, I work at the intersection of policy and practice — translating systemic challenges into meaningful solutions. Access to… Read More »
Editor’s note: The American Dental Association is proud to announce that the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act (ELSA), H.R. 1916, the week of April 4. The ADA has been lobbying this issue for years alongside our colleagues at the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) as well as many other… Read More »
The month of February is a confluence of so many of the things I love in life: showing love to those in our lives on Valentine’s Day, discount candy and chocolate the day after Valentine’s Day (haha), and the whole month being both Black History and Children’s Oral Health Month. As a Black female, it is exciting to… Read More »
Dental health equity remains a pipe dream for many Americans. Those people who live in poverty, rural areas, and those in certain ethnic/racial minorities and gender typically experience higher barriers to care than most. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 10% of people living in rural America have less access to dental services than… Read More »
A police officer has never asked me to step out of my car. . . That is a truth for me that, in 31 years as a white American male, I’ve never thought twice about until now. It has just always been another part of my life that was unquestionably. . .normal. Normal because I grew up in… Read More »
A couple days after the brutal killing of George Floyd, I was watching the world news with my mother and I said to her, “If Grandma Vi was still alive today, I wonder what she would say about everything going on?” And my mother replied, “She wouldn’t be surprised because she lived through the Jim Crow South and… Read More »