Guest blog by Elizabeth Roney The DentaQuest Foundation held a south/southeast regional oral health convening in Nashville from May 21st through the 23rd.  Professionals ranging from dentists to advocates from 13 southern states connected to create a regional network, discuss how to build an oral health movement and work together to align goals with the Oral Health 2020 vision. Nashville’s laid-back feel and the unconventional meeting facilitation methods allowed a student, like myself, to confidently [...]

The legislative session wrapped up in April and there are great opportunities to report for children’s oral health - on the state budget front, a piece of new legislation, and a new Governor’s initiative. We want to take a minute to highlight just one of the exciting wins for kids’ oral health during the 2014 legislative session. On April 9th the Governor signed into law SB 159. This bill allows a school district or a Head Start program to contract with a licensed, not-for-profit primary care [...]

We released a new issue brief today, Integrated Health Care Benefits Kentucky's Children, which examines the advantages of integrated health care as a way to improve the health of Kentucky's kids. In Kentucky, too many children struggle with poor health or have special health care needs. Kentucky’s health care system has undergone many changes in recent years. As these changes continue to be implemented, it is important for Kentucky to make sure all health needs of children are being met through improved [...]

The 2014 legislative session recently wrapped up, and all things considered, it was an excellent session for children. To name a few wins, the actions taken by our legislators and the Governor will result in fewer child deaths due to abuse and neglect, low-income parents able to work while children are cared for safely, and smart use of our juvenile justice system to get kids back on track and create safer communities. Several significant challenges [...]