Addressing health disparities through dental-medical collaborations, Part III: Leadership for the public good

This is the third in a series of articles featuring dental-medical collaborations to reduce oral health disparities. Previous articles have targeted disparities among children, the elderly, and those with mental retardation and developmental disabilities and the importance of cultural factors in health disparities. Articles in this third group describe projects that originated in the public health sector or utilize public health approaches. They include training of non-dental providers and Head Start/Early Head Start workers in children's oral health promotion; case management to ensure early preventive medical, dental, and developmental services for children; and a dental school-led outreach, training, and research effort to address oral cancer disparities. In this introductory article, we review lessons learned from the entire series of projects reported in these articles. The primary take-home message is that educational changes are needed in dental and medical training to better address oral health disparities. Other important lessons include the value of local or state-specific data, the need for partnerships with key stakeholders, and the role of financial incentives in leveraging change. We recommend more attention to outcome assessments in educational initiatives, greater partnering with families and patients, and utilization of change-management methodologies with systems, providers, and patients. We also advocate increased collaboration with the public health sector and bold leadership in dental education.