VISION: Oral health is integral to overall health. Furthermore, safe and effective disease prevention measures exist that everyone can adopt to improve oral health and prevent disease. Our vision is to develop partnerships that will create opportunities for individuals, health professionals and communities to work together to maintain and improve the oral health of Latino communities.

BARRIERS: Long-standing barriers to oral health include socioeconomic factors, such as lack of dental insurance or the inability to pay out-of-pocket, or problems of access that involve transportation, a shortage of providers or lan­guage/communication problems.

CHARGE: Identify a strategic oral health blueprint that: 1) enhances the public’s understanding dental public health; 2) raises the awareness of importance of oral health among policymakers and; 3) educating non-dental health providers about oral health and disease topics and their role in assuring that patients receive quality oral health care.