PDA , New Coalition Expanding Oral Health Initiatives Statewide reimbursement rates , the PCOH also called for improving access to oral health care in Pennsylvania ’ s underserved areas by increasing the dental school loan forgiveness program and through supplying tax credits for dentists who open practices in underserved areas or agree to serve a number of Medicaid patients . The coalition also called for adopting a statewide fluoridation program for public water supplies and expanding the state Department of Public Welfare ’ s new fluoride varnish program for physicians and certified registered nurse practitioners . Pennsylvania isn ’ t the only state in the ADA ’ s public affairs program to help create a coalition to promote better oral health care initiatives . Dave Marsh , Director of Government Relations with the Illinois State Dental Society , applauded PDA for its efforts to seek like-minded coalition members to promote better health policies . He said his state ’ s Bridge to Healthy Smiles Coalition has been very helpful in educating state officials on the importance of oral health care initiatives .
“ Our coalition represents thousands of hard-working
Illinois families , and its ability to help us educate lawmakers on the importance of increasing access to oral healthcare is key to our campaign ,” Marsh said . “ These organizations work with families impacted by the oral health care crisis in Illinois on a daily basis so it ’ s a way for us to present a unified front and hopefully influence public policy related to funding dental programs .” While the Pennsylvania coalition is still in its infancy , it already made an impact in the recent gubernatorial race . PCOH sent its policy paper to both Republican Tom Corbett and Democrat Dan Onorato , calling on each of them to promote oral health care initiatives if elected governor .
With a new Administration and new General Assembly , the PCOH will have a lot of opportunities to educate state officials about the need to improve access to quality oral health care and make Pennsylvania a state where dentists want to practice . For more information , go to www . paoralhealth . org .
Follow PDA on Twitter !
In early October , we added yet another valuable tool to our communications capabilities , PDA ’ s Twitter feed (@ padentalassn ).
Follow PDA to get updates on everything from legislation and important issues affecting you , to upcoming events , to membership news , to CE opportunities , to informative articles and upcoming topics in the Pennsylvania Dental Journal .
To view our Twitter feed it ’ s necessary for you to have a Twitter account . If you haven ’ t used Twitter before , have no fear . It is very easy . This form of social media is geared toward interacting , sharing ideas and relating experiences .
Go to www . twitter . com today and sign up for a free account . Then find twitter . com / padentalassn and click on “ Follow .” You also can access PDA ’ s Twitter by clicking on the link on the front page of the PDA website .
34 November / December 2010 • Pennsylvania Dental Journal