ISU Faculty Selected as Idaho Representative for 100 Million Mouths Campaign

The 100 MMC, created within Harvard University’s Center for Integration of Primary Care and Oral Health, will train 50 oral health education champions over the next decade, one in each state, to work with health profession schools and programs to integrate oral health into their curricula to bridge gaps in oral health access. Stephenson, a clinical assistant professor and Community Outreach Coordinator for Idaho State University’s Department of Dental Hygiene, will work in tandem with the Idaho Oral Health Alliance, which also has an initiative to educate Idaho medical providers on the importance of oral health to whole health.

The goal of the 100MMC is to recruit and train health professionals in each state to engage with primary care training sites to develop oral health curricula that will be sustainable and has a health equity component. Champions reach out to medical and osteopathic schools, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, and midwifery schools, as well as pediatrics, med-peds, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and family medicine residencies. They are taught to use existing national and state resources, and to partner with local and state experts such as the state dental director, department of public health, and local academic and community-based dentists and dental hygienists. Champions train faculty in the health schools to carry on the oral health curricula, thereby creating a system that will generate future primary care providers who can engage their patients and improve the oral health of at least 100 million mouths over the next decade.

 To connect or learn more, contact Colleen Stephenson at colleenstephenson@isu.edu or (208)282-6144