FNIDCR Applauds Lawmakers' Effort to Save CDC's Division of Oral Health

FNIDCR: Division's Downgrade Diminishes Importance of Oral Health

WASHINGTON, DC— The Friends of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (FNIDCR), a leading consortium of oral health community stakeholders, applauds the 46 members of Congress who a signed a May 19, 2011 letter to the chairman and ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, urging them to do what they can to prevent a downgrade of the Division of Oral Health (DOH) to branch status at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced FNIDCR President Dr. Christian Stohler.

"The role of the DOH is to advance health promotion and dental disease prevention initiatives," the congressional letter stated. "These goals are being accomplished through DOH's national surveillance research, its funding and support for state-based oral disease prevention programs, its development of guidelines and support for reviews of evidence, and its participation in national-level oral health activities that involve state health associations and dental associations."

Dr. Stohler said, "Although the Friends of NIDCR is committed to supporting the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, our diverse membership views the contributions of the DOH to the oral health community—and to our fellow citizens—as significant and invaluable. The division's downgrade diminishes the importance of oral health to the general community. We also value the division's work with NIDCR and the National Center for Health Statistics to develop a National Oral Health Surveillance Plan as part of the HHS 2010 Oral Health Initiative."

"We sincerely thank the leadership of the Congressional Oral Health Caucus, Congressmen Mike Simpson and Elijah Cummings, for spearheading this strong bipartisan effort to prevent the downgrading of the CDC's oral health division, which is an issue of great importance to the oral health community," Dr. Stohler said. "We are also grateful to the wide array of members of Congress who supported the letter. We believe it demonstrates that oral health is a priority to the community at large because of the important role it plays to our overall well being." The Friends of NIDCR worked in cooperation with the chairs of the Congressional Oral Health Caucus to raise awareness of the letter's circulation, he added.

In addition to U.S. Reps. Simpson (R-ID) and Cummings (D-MD), the letter was signed by:

To view the congressional letter, please click here.

On February 2, 2011, FNIDCR sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that expressed strong concern about the downgrading of the DOH. FNIDCR received a response from CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden on February 14, 2011.