Guest Editorial
C D A J O U R N A L , V O L 4 9 , Nº 5
Hope for a Cavity-Free Generation Jayanth Kumar, DDS, MPH
Editor’s note: A colleague recently asked me, “Exactly what is it that the dental director does?” With that question, I knew it was time for the CDA Journal to more formally introduce the California Dental Director, Dr. Jay Kumar. CDA has worked closely with Dr. Kumar on several Journal issues since he took up his position in 2015, and also on oral health access projects and most recently on COVID-19 guidance. He has been a tireless advocate for improved oral health in our state and a wonderful partner and advocate for practicing dentists, especially in this pandemic. I have invited Dr. Kumar to introduce himself and give us a glimpse of his inspiration and his aspirations. In this issue, we begin a recurring section entitled California Oral Health Briefings. The goal of this collaboration is to increase the understanding of the oral health of Californians and to help public health and private practice dentists realize the importance of working together to achieve a level of oral health in our state that is unmatched elsewhere. We are grateful as residents of the state of California and as members of the California Dental Association that we have the benefit of a dental director like Dr. Kumar.
— Kerry K. Carney, DDS, CDE
We need a commitment to find a better solution, which may require substantial investments in research and technology to find a cure within five years — something akin to a moonshot program.
I
n the late ‘90s, I listened to Rob Reiner giving a speech at the American Association of Public Health Dentistry annual meeting. He discussed a campaign to pass Prop 10, the California Children and Families Initiative, which created First 5 California, a program of early childhood development services, funded by a tax on tobacco products. Reiner’s ideas resonated with me and gave me the vision to free young children from cavities. I envisioned a “Free by 3” campaign composed of a series of milestones in three-year increments. First, all 3-year-old children should be cavity free; three years later, when children enter kindergarten, they should be cavity free; and three years after that, when we measure tooth decay in the third grade, we should see substantial progress in their overall oral health. This will put a generation of children on a lifelong trajectory to achieve good oral health, thereby eliminating oral health disparities. I was looking for an opportunity to make this vision a reality and had read about the California Dental Association’s Access Report. It reflected the understanding that “there must be a realistic, comprehensive approach to solutions, focusing resources where they are most likely to have substantial impact and initially setting up a foundational
structure that will contribute to the success of subsequent recommendations.” The report focused on building the infrastructure and capacity to establish a foundation for public oral health programs, optimizing early disease prevention and health promotion efforts through policies and system changes, promoting approaches to increase oral health literacy and expanding the capacity to provide care to at-risk populations. I saw the opportunities to achieve my vision in California because of initiatives such as First 5 and the Kindergarten Oral Health Assessment requirement as well as a commitment to improve access to dental care. To translate that vision into a reality requires collective action. In the last five years, I have worked with our partners to create the structure to support it. The Office of Oral Health uses the collective action framework, which consists of five conditions — a common agenda, shared measurement systems, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication and a backbone organization. The California Oral Health Plan 2018–2028 offers the structure for collective action to assess and monitor oral health status and disparities, prevent oral diseases, increase access to dental services, promote best practices and advance evidence M AY 2 0 2 1
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