Dental Public Health & General Public Health – Comprehensive Study Notes
Page 1 – Course Identification
• NYU Dentistry – Dental Public Health module presented by Fernando Neves Hugo, Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion.
• Part of the 2025 D1 Health Promotion Course.
Page 2 – Lecture Road-Map
Major topics covered:
What is Public Health?
Why Public Health is Important?
Who Are Public Health Professionals?
Essential Public Health Services
Social Determinants of Health
How Public Health is Delivered in the U.S.?
Dental Public Health – A Definition
Essential Dental Public Health Services
Page 3 – CDC Foundation Definition of Public Health
• Public Health = “science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities.”
• Accomplished by:
– Promoting healthy lifestyles
– Researching disease & injury prevention
– Detecting, preventing, responding to infectious diseases
• Population focus may range from a neighborhood to a region or an entire nation.
Page 4 – APHA Definition of Public Health
• Public health “promotes and protects the health of all people and their communities.”
• A science-based, evidence-backed field aiming to give everyone a safe place to live, learn, work, and play.
Page 5 – Public Health Programmatic Breadth
• Activities include: controlling spread of communicable diseases, preventing chronic diseases, improving nutrition, air & water quality, promoting workplace safety, reducing automobile accidents, etc.
Page 6 – Overarching Focus
• Disease prevention, health promotion, and closing gaps in health disparities across communities, national, and global levels.
Page 7 – Public Health vs. Clinical Medicine
• Public health centers on health equity & group outcomes.
• Clinical medicine concentrates on individual diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.
Page 8 – Impacts & Benefits
• Public health actions reduce disease burden, enhance quality of life, and extend health expectancy through proactive health promotion & risk prevention.
Page 9 – Specific Public Health Responsibilities
• Tracking disease outbreaks.
• Vaccinating communities.
• Setting worker-safety standards.
• Developing child-focused nutrition programs.
• Advocating safety laws.
• Addressing climate-change health impacts.
• Creating school-based oral-health programs.
Page 10 – Public Health Workforce Spectrum
Professionals operate across government, business, and non-profit sectors, including:
• Health Educators, Community Health Workers, Scientists, Researchers, Nutritionists, Social Workers, Occupational Health & Safety Professionals, Policy Makers, Sanitarians, Epidemiologists, Statisticians, Public-Health Dentists/Physicians/Nurses, etc.
Page 11 – 10 Essential Public Health Services Framework (Assessment • Policy Development • Assurance • Equity)
Assess & monitor population health.
Investigate, diagnose, address hazards & root causes.
Communicate effectively to inform & educate.
Strengthen, support, mobilize communities & partnerships.
Create, champion, implement policies, plans, laws.
Utilize legal & regulatory actions.
Enable equitable access.
Build a diverse & skilled workforce.
Improve & innovate via evaluation, research, QI.
Build & maintain strong public-health infrastructure.
Page 12 – Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)
• Non-medical factors shaping health: education, health-care access & quality, neighborhood environment, social/community context, economic stability.
Page 13 – Dahlgren & Whitehead Model (Layers of Influence)
Outside → Inside concentric layers:
• Socio-economic, cultural, environmental conditions (living & working).
• Work environment, education, agriculture & food production, unemployment, water & sanitation, health-care services, housing.
• Social & community networks.
• Individual lifestyle factors.
• Age, sex, constitutional factors.
Page 14 – U.S. Public Health Governance
• Powers & responsibilities divided among federal, state, local governments.
• Derived from U.S. Constitution & statutory law.
Page 15 – Multi-Sectoral PH System
• Governmental health departments = backbone.
• Private actors (NGOs, academia, business, philanthropy) contribute crucial roles.
Page 16 – Dental Public Health (DPH) Specialty
• One of 9 ADA-recognized dental specialties.
• Board-certified since 1950.
Page 17 – Consensus DPH Definition
“Science & art of preventing and controlling dental diseases and promoting dental health through organized community efforts.”
• Community viewed as the “patient.”
• Encompasses public education, applied research, group-care programs, and community-based prevention/control.
Page 18 – Competency Requirements Implied
• Program administration, research methods, disease prevention/control, financing & delivery of dental-care services.
Page 19 – Public Health in America Vision/Mission & 10 Essential Services Recap
Vision: Healthy people in healthy communities.
Mission: Promote physical & mental health; prevent disease, injury, disability.
Purpose actions (prevent epidemics, protect environment, etc.) align with Essential Services 1–10.
Page 20 – 10 Essential Dental Public Health Services
Assessment:
Assess oral-health status & surveillance.
Analyze determinants & address hazards.
Gauge public perceptions; educate & empower.
Policy Development:Mobilize partners, leverage resources.
Develop & implement supportive policies/plans.
Assurance:Review/enforce laws for safe practices.
Reduce barriers; ensure service utilization.
Ensure adequate, competent workforce.
Evaluate effectiveness, access, quality.
Conduct/review research for innovative solutions.
Page 21 – 2018 DPH Competencies (American Board of DPH & AAPHD)
Manage oral-health programs for population health.
Demonstrate ethical decision-making.
Evaluate systems of care impacting oral health.
Design surveillance systems.
Communicate on oral & public-health issues.
Lead collaborations.
Advocate for policy/legislation/regulation.
Critically appraise evidence.
Conduct research.
Integrate SDOH into practice.
Page 22 – Competency 1: Program Management
Definition: Assess needs, plan, implement, evaluate population-based oral-health programs.
Example: School-based sealant program → screenings, sealant placement, staff training, annual evaluation of untreated-caries rates.
Page 23 – Competency 2: Ethical Decision-Making
Definition: Apply autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, veracity in DPH practice.
Example: Community water fluoridation with inclusive public engagement & transparent consent processes.
Page 24 – Competency 3: Systems Evaluation
Definition: Systematically assess effectiveness, access, quality of oral-health delivery systems.
Example: Evaluate Medicaid dental benefits & utilization → identify provider-network gaps, reimbursement issues, outcome disparities.
Page 25 – Competency 4: Surveillance-System Design
Definition: Create monitoring systems capturing conditions, risk factors, determinants.
Example: Electronic platform for real-time tracking of early childhood caries prevalence via exams & caregiver questionnaires.
Page 26 – Competency 5: Communication
Definition: Convey oral-health information accurately across diverse formats & audiences.
Example: Multilingual resources, CE programs on cultural competence, legislative testimony.
Page 27 – Competency 6: Collaboration Leadership
Definition: Build coalitions & partnerships to solve oral-health challenges.
Example: State-wide coalition integrating oral health into primary care → expanded access.
Page 28 – Competency 7: Advocacy
Definition: Promote/support oral-health policies, legislation, regulations.
Example: Testify for expanding adult Medicaid dental coverage; rally to sustain fluoridation.
Page 29 – Competency 8: Evidence Appraisal
Definition: Critically evaluate literature for validity & applicability in policy/practice.
Example: Systematic review of ECC prevention interventions guiding state programs.
Page 30 – Competency 9: Research
Definition: Design, conduct, disseminate studies addressing population oral-health challenges.
Example: Longitudinal SDOH–oral-health study in rural areas informing evidence-based policy.
Page 31 – Competency 10: Integrate SDOH
Definition: Factor social, economic, environmental influences into program & policy design.
Example: Comprehensive ECC prevention addressing food insecurity, parental education, housing, transport via partnerships.
Page 32 – Key References
• Burt & Mascarenhas: “The Practice of Dentistry and Dental Public Health” in Burt & Eklund’s Dentistry, Dental Practice & the Community (7th ed.) 2021, pp.2–9.
• Michaud et al.: “Public Health 101” in Health Policy 101, KFF, 2025, pp.2–12.
Page 33 – Contact / Questions
• Email: f.hugo@nyu.edu
• “Perguntas?” – invitation for questions.