WHO WE ARE

Oral Health America (OHA) is a 501c3 non-profit whose mission is to improve public health by eliminating oral disease, especially for the country’s most vulnerable citizens. OHA works to accomplish this by educating and empowering communities to provide access to care, and by advocating for policies that create oral health parity.

STAFF MEMBERS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

FIFTY YEARS OF ADVOCACY

Oral Heath America was founded in 1955 as “America’s Fund for Dental Education,” a supporting organization of the American Dental Association (ADA), to raise funds for dental education and research.  In 1994, the fund reorganized as Oral Health America, an independent non-profit public corporation, and embarked on a course to represent the oral health interests of the American public.  After the release, in 2000, of the first ever U.S. Surgeon General’s report on oral health in America, OHA redoubled its efforts to raise public awareness of oral health’s importance to overall health.

Since 1994, OHA has conducted national education and communication programs that are raising the profile of oral health and helping to ensure that oral health is not overlooked in the healthcare debate.  The organization’s first national program, Oral Health 2000, enlisted the support of former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop in a significant public service announcement campaign, based on a phrase he coined at the time, “You can’t be healthy without good oral health.”  Oral Health 2000 also supported the oral health goals of CDC’s Healthy People 2000 by hosting a series of oral health conferences, for which OHA served as a neutral convener, which engaged decision makers and thought leaders from within and outside the dental community. 

Over the last fifteen years, Oral Health America has launched and supported numerous impactful programs focused on improving the oral health of Americans, especially the most vulnerable members of the population, and on increasing awareness of oral health’s significance to overall health. Some of OHA’s most notable programs include: National Smile Month; the National Spit Tobacco Education Program (NSTEP); Smiles Across America®; the Special Olympics Special Smiles; the creation and release of five oral health report cards from 2000 to 2005; a partnership with CDC’s Division of Oral Health to develop the capacity and infrastructure of state oral health programs and oral disease prevention initiatives by providing technical assistance to the CDC Division of Oral Health’s grantee states; and the establishment of a group of concerned professionals who regularly meet to discuss periodontal health issues.