Community advocates and leaders in dental education, government, organized dentistry and industry from across the country recently gathered in Los Angeles, drawn by the need to address children’s oral health disparities.

The two-day conference was organized by the Santa Fe Group, a nonprofit consortium created to foster policy and initiate actions to improve the health and well-being of the public.

Santa Fe Group member Harold Slavkin, the G. Donald and Marian James Montgomery Professor of Dentistry and dean of the USC School of Dentistry, hosted the conference that explored the role of family and community in children’s oral health. He described it as an experiment in collaboration and experiential learning.

“We want to change the perspective on oral health,” Slavkin said. “Clearly we are all enlisted in this mission – that the future of America depends on keeping our children healthy, safe, educated and engaged.”

A recent Dental Foundation of California report identified dental disease as the number one health problem for California children. The report’s findings estimated that 750,000 elementary school children have untreated disease, which results in unnecessary pain, lack of concentration and absenteeism.

Held at the Central City Neighborhood Partners’ facility in Los Angeles, the program was designed to motivate participants to support and replicate best practices in sustaining the health of children in underserved urban areas.

In a position paper presented by Michele Kipke, professor in the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, she noted that recent reports on children’s health in this country indicate that while there have been dramatic improvements in child health during the last several decades, disparities exist for children living in poverty and/or those from ethnic groups.

Position papers provided background for attendees. Topics ranged from the fetal experience’s effect on later health and the determinants of child wellness to the child in the context of family and community, and promoting wellness through early childhood education.

Other USC presenters included Roberta Williams, professor in the Keck School of Medicine and vice president of pediatrics and academic affairs at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles; Michael Cousineau, associate professor at the Keck School of Medicine; Jacquelyn McCroskey, professor in the USC School of Social Work; and Karen Symms Gallagher, dean of the USC Rossier School of Education.

Dushanka Kleinman, deputy director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, provided insight into challenges and opportunities of federal agencies to address the role of the family and the community in children’s oral health.

“What we are looking to do is raise the issue and identify models out there for meeting the needs of improved health for traditionally underserved populations,” said Linda Niessen, president of the Santa Fe Group.

With that in mind, participants were divided into small groups and sent on site visits to assess five community programs and the possibilities for their replication.

Among the sites were WomenAndCommunity, USC Neighborhood Mobile Dental Clinic/Doctors Out-to-Care Program, USC’s dental clinic at the Union Rescue Mission, QueensCare/USC Dental Clinic, Children’s Dental Center in Inglewood and the Korean Health, Education, Information and Research Center.

“This conference was an opportunity to take academicians into community center sites and allow them to see how the issues directly face our community and how the community is responding,” Niessen said. “At the same time, the participants can present what they’ve learned to the community sites so that everyone can benefit.”

The conference concluded with work group presentations and feedback from a panel of representatives from the community sites.

“People are suffering so much,” said conference participant Greg Apodaca, founder and executive director of Community Without Walls, a nonprofit that partners community wellness programs with funders. “This was all about what can we do in the dental community to make this situation better.”