Oral Health in Transition: Charting a Collaborative Path Forward
Speaker
Moderated by Caswell A. Evans Jr., DDS, MPH
Caswell A. Evans Jr., DDS, MPH, President, NCDHE is a Emeritus Professor and former Associate Dean for Prevention and Public Health Sciences, University of Illinois Chicago College of Dentistry
Patty Braun, MD, MPH, FAAP is a pediatrician at Denver Health, a large safety-net healthcare system. She is a Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health at the University of Colorado where she conducts oral health disparity and health services research and program evaluation. She directs the Rocky Mountain Network for Oral Health Integration and is the past chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section of Oral Health Executive Committee.
Mark Deutchman, MD is a Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine and also in the School of Dental Medicine and the School of Public Health. He practiced in rural Washington State for 12 years and has been teaching medical students, residents and fellows for the past 30 years. He currently serves as Associate Dean for Rural Health and directs the Rural Program for the School of Medicine. He helped introduce an oral health curriculum in the School of Medicine, helped found the Cavity Free at Three program and contributed to the Smiles for Life national oral health curriculum. His research interests include rural medical practice and workforce development, maternity care, technical procedures and education methods.
Brett Kessler, DDS is a general dentist in Denver, is President of the American Dental Association. He has served in numerous leadership roles, including Colorado Dental Association President (2014-2015) and ADA delegate (2008-2019). Dr. Kessler played a key role in establishing Colorado’s adult Medicaid dental benefit and earned the ADA’s Golden Apple Award for leadership in mentoring. A national speaker on well-being and leadership, he has served on the Council on Dental Wellbeing Advisory Committee and testified before Congress to advance oral health. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry, he is also an endurance athlete, husband, and father of four.
Dushanka V. Kleinman, DDS, MScD is a a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health, is Professor Emerita, School of Public Health, University of Maryland where she served as Associate Dean for Research and Principal Associate Dean. During her 28 years of prior government service, she served as Deputy Director, NIDCR, NIH, and completed a five-year term as the 15th Chief Dental Officer, USPHS. She has a DDS (University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry), a hospital rotating internship (University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics), and an MScD in dental public health (Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine at Boston University). She currently serves as the Vice President of the Santa Fe Group.
Disclosure: These speakers do not have any relevant financial relationships to disclose.
Course Description
The National Coalition of Dentists for Health Equity (NCDHE) and Penn Dental Medicine have partnered to present a four-part lecture-based webinar series exploring one of dentistry's most pressing challenges: how to break down the divide between medical and dental care. Drawing on the insight of leading voices in the field, this series examines how sweeping changes to the nation's health system are reshaping oral health policy and practice, and what a more integrated path forward might look like. Too often, dental care remains siloed, with attention centered on clinical procedures rather than oral health's broader role in overall wellbeing. As the healthcare safety net faces growing strain and vulnerable populations bear the brunt of that pressure, NCDHE sees an urgent opportunity: by opening sustained dialogue between medical and dental professionals around collaborative care models, the two fields can move faster toward a stronger, more resilient healthcare system.
Educational Objectives
- The domino effects of federal and state disinvestment in oral health infrastructure.
- Firsthand accounts of the erosion of the local safety net and its real-world impacts.
- The promise of team-based, integrated interprofessional care models to stabilize and strengthen systems.
- Advocacy strategies to enhance oral health as integral to overall health at the forefront of public health policy.
Contact
For information, please contact Penn Dental Medicine Continuing Dental Education at:
PDMContinuingEd@dental.upenn.edu
Refund Policy
If a Registration Refund, Substitution and Cancellation Policy is not specifically stated on the registration fee page for the course, written refund requests (minus a $50 administration fee or 20%, whichever is less) will be honored if received by four working days prior to a given course. Penn Dental Medicine is not responsible for the refund of any part of the tuition as a result of emergencies, unforeseen circumstances, events beyond its control, or no-shows.
University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine is an ADA CERP Recognized Provider.
ADA CERP is a service of the American Dental Association to assist dental professionals in identifying quality providers of continuing dental education. ADA CERP does not approve or endorse individual courses or instructors, nor does it imply acceptance of credit hours by boards of dentistry.
University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine designates this activity as 1.50 continuing education credits.