This book provides an overview of the oral health care environment as the transition is made to a system increasingly focusing on disease prevention, early intervention to minimize disease progression, and a personalized approach that meets each individual’s needs. Descriptions are provided of an array of technologies based on rapid advances in genomic medicine and omics technology that are already entering clinical practice and promise to have a huge impact on risk assessment, diagnosis, and therapy. Detailed consideration is also paid to personalized health insurance in the new environment, the impact of personalized health care on the economics of health care, and the consequences for the global diagnostic market place and improved access to care. The changes in dental education required to produce dentists better equipped to participate in the new health care environment are examined, and the book concludes by considering key opportunities and challenges.

USA TODAY AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER You’ve heard the advice: If you want to live longer, eat healthy foods and exercise daily. But there’s a third piece of the puzzle, and it can add 10 to 15 years to your life. It’s been right under your nose this whole time—literally. Your mouth is the gateway to your body and is the most critical organ for improving your health, from childhood onward. Everything in the human life cycle is related to the mouth: fertility, childbirth, sleeping soundly, success in school, finding a mate, getting a job, psychological well-being, avoiding chronic or systemic disease, and aging well. Your mouth is a window into the health of your body as a whole; from its microbiome to its structure, it impacts your physical and mental wellness in countless ways. Unfortunately, the mouth-body connection has been largely neglected by American medicine . . . until now. If Your Mouth Could Talk is the result of over 20 years of firsthand experience and research by renowned orthodontist and dentofacial orthopedist, Dr. Kami Hoss. In this groundbreaking work, Dr. Hoss connects the dots between oral health and whole-body health, offering a roadmap to a longer, more successful future for you and your family. This isn’t a book about brushing and flossing—or any of the other standard advice you get from your dentist. Instead, you’ll hear about how to protect your mouth’s microbiome, the effect of diet, the relationship between oral structure and sleep problems, how to breathe better, and more. This is an in-depth guide for people who want to take control of their health to the fullest extent possible—who want to understand how their mouth contributes to their overall health and quality of life, and what they can do to better care for it. If your mouth could talk, it would tell you about the condition of your entire life. Time to start listening.

This book explains the genetic basis of a wide range of dental disorders, including dental caries, periodontitis, congenital anomalies, malocclusions, orofacial pain, dental implant failure, and cancer. Such conditions are typically multifactorial or complex, with involvement of more than one gene as well as environmental influences. A sound grasp of this framework is ever more important, given the emergence of consumer genomics, including direct-to-consumer genetic testing. Dental professionals now need to understand why one person is susceptible to a particular oral health condition while a first-degree relative either does not develop the condition or does so in a less severe form. Knowledge of how genes operate in the susceptible host is essential if patients are to be offered accurate advice about their risks. The information provided in this book will assist in the delivery of effective personalized dental care through optimization of preventive strategies. It will enable the practitioner to explain the extent to which a patient’s condition is pure "bad luck", whether that bad luck can be changed by behavioral choices, and how many of our behaviors are influenced by genes.

Access to oral health care is essential to promoting and maintaining overall health and well-being, yet only half of the population visits a dentist each year. Poor and minority children are less likely to have access to oral health care than are their nonpoor and nonminority peers. Older adults, people who live in rural areas, and disabled individuals, uniformly confront access barriers, regardless of their financial resources. The consequences of these disparities in access to oral health care can lead to a number of conditions including malnutrition, childhood speech problems, infections, diabetes, heart disease, and premature births. Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations examines the scope and consequences of inadequate access to oral health services in the United States and recommends ways to combat the economic, structural, geographic, and cultural factors that prevent access to regular, quality care. The report suggests changing funding and reimbursement for dental care; expanding the oral health work force by training doctors, nurses, and other nondental professionals to recognize risk for oral diseases; and revamping regulatory, educational, and administrative practices. It also recommends changes to incorporate oral health care into overall health care. These recommendations support the creation of a diverse workforce that is competent, compensated, and authorized to serve vulnerable and underserved populations across the life cycle. The recommendations provided in Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations will help direct the efforts of federal, state, and local government agencies; policy makers; health professionals in all fields; private and public health organizations; licensing and accreditation bodies; educational institutions; health care researchers; and philanthropic and advocacy organizations.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. ​This handbook synthesizes and analyzes the growing knowledge base on life course health development (LCHD) from the prenatal period through emerging adulthood, with implications for clinical practice and public health. It presents LCHD as an innovative field with a sound theoretical framework for understanding wellness and disease from a lifespan perspective, replacing previous medical, biopsychosocial, and early genomic models of health. Interdisciplinary chapters discuss major health concerns (diabetes, obesity), important less-studied conditions (hearing, kidney health), and large-scale issues (nutrition, adversity) from a lifespan viewpoint. In addition, chapters address methodological approaches and challenges by analyzing existing measures, studies, and surveys. The book concludes with the editors’ research agenda that proposes priorities for future LCHD research and its application to health care practice and health policy. Topics featured in the Handbook include: The prenatal period and its effect on child obesity and metabolic outcomes. Pregnancy complications and their effect on women’s cardiovascular health. A multi-level approach for obesity prevention in children. Application of the LCHD framework to autism spectrum disorder. Socioeconomic disadvantage and its influence on health development across the lifespan. The importance of nutrition to optimal health development across the lifespan. The Handbook of Life Course Health Development is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians/professionals, and graduate students in developmental psychology/science; maternal and child health; social work; health economics; educational policy and politics; and medical law as well as many interrelated subdisciplines in psychology, medicine, public health, mental health, education, social welfare, economics, sociology, and law.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) Roundtable on Health Literacy focuses on bringing together leaders from the federal government, foundations, health plans, associations, and private companies to address challenges facing health literacy practice and research and to identify approaches to promote health literacy in both the public and private sectors. The roundtable serves to educate the public, press, and policy makers regarding the issues of health literacy, sponsoring workshops to discuss approaches to resolve health literacy challenges. It also builds partnerships to move the field of health literacy forward by translating research findings into practical strategies for implementation. The Roundtable held a workshop March 29, 2012, to explore the field of oral health literacy. The workshop was organized by an independent planning committee in accordance with the procedures of the National Academy of Sciences. The planning group was composed of Sharon Barrett, Benard P. Dreyer, Alice M. Horowitz, Clarence Pearson, and Rima Rudd. The role of the workshop planning committee was limited to planning the workshop. Unlike a consensus committee report, a workshop summary may not contain conclusions and recommendations, except as expressed by and attributed to individual presenters and participants. Therefore, the summary has been prepared by the workshop rapporteur as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop.

Though it is highly preventable, tooth decay is a common chronic disease both in the United States and worldwide. Evidence shows that decay and other oral diseases may be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. However, individuals and many health care professionals remain unaware of the risk factors and preventive approaches for many oral diseases. They do not fully appreciate how oral health affects overall health and well-being. In Advancing Oral Health in America, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) highlights the vital role that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) can play in improving oral health and oral health care in the United States. The IOM recommends that HHS design an oral health initiative which has clearly articulated goals, is coordinated effectively, adequately funded and has high-level accountability. In addition, the IOM stresses three key areas needed for successfully maintaining oral health as a priority issue: strong leadership, sustained interest, and the involvement of multiple stakeholders from both the public and private sectors. Advancing Oral Health in America provides practical recommendations that the Department of Health and Human Services can use to improve oral health care in America. The report will serve as a vital resource for federal health agencies, health care professionals, policy makers, researchers, and public and private health organizations.