Advancing oral health literacy (OHL) is a key goal of the CA Department of Public Health Office of Oral Health, the American Dental Association and many dental professional organizations. OHL refers to people’s abilities to access, understand and act on oral health information to improve their oral and general health. It also refers to dental professionals’ abilities to communicate well with patients and caregivers and to create patient-friendly practice environments. OHL is a key way to improve health equity. Over 20 years of OHL research and practice has identified evidence-based communication techniques and other approaches that can be used in dental practices. However, most dental professionals have not had OHL training either in their professional or continuing education and there are few supportive resources available for them.

During the past three years, the CA Office of Oral Health and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health in partnership with state and national dental professionals have developed trainings and the CA Oral Health Literacy Toolkit to support dental professionals. The Toolkit is a free, easy-to-use digital resource about OHL and ways to implement it into dental practices. Trainings are being conducted at state and local organizations. This session focuses on the key factors that affect OHL and how dental professionals can access the Toolkit and implement it in their practices. We will share experiences of dental professionals using these approaches.

Participants will improve their abilities to:

· Recognize how health literacy and cultural humility in dental practices can improve health equity

· Understand how to access and use the CA Oral Health Literacy Toolkit

· Assess dental practice sites for oral health literacy and patient-friendliness using a standard checklist

· Use evidence-based communication techniques in their practices, such as teach-back.

Course Speakers:

Becca Freed, Associate Director, Health Literacy Communications

David Trent, DDS, MD

David Trent DDS, MD is a dentist, physician, and fellowship-trained pediatric oral and maxillofacial surgeon.  He is a staff surgeon as well the Chief Medical Officer at Kids Care Dental and Orthodontics, the largest provider of pediatric-specific dental services in California.  He is academically active as an Assistant Clinical Professor at UCSF in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, a member of the UCSF Cleft and Craniofacial Anomalies Team, and serves as an attending surgeon at UCSF Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland, California.

Dr. Trent attended the University of California – San Francisco for his Doctorate in Dental Surgery and the University of California – Davis for his Doctor of Medicine.  He attained his residency training in General Surgery as well as Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at UCSF.  He additionally completed advanced training as surgical fellow in Pediatric Cleft and Craniofacial Surgery at the Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital in Orlando, Florida.  He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships: TBA