Hager Sharpers Amanda Marr and Shelly Spoeth recently taught oral health leaders from across the country about building a communications plan at the National Oral Health Conference. Marr and Spoeth have been working on the issue of community water fluoridation for the past two years with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Oral Health.
At the conference, Marr and Spoeth teamed with Matt Jacob from the Children’s Dental Health Project to teach an interactive workshop on building communication plans, creating messages, and using social media to reach target audiences.
“Our goal was to provide easy-to-understand tools to help attendees communicate about water fluoridation in their own communities,” said Marr. “We were excited to be able to share our expertise to address this important public health practice.”
The annual conference, held this year in Fort Worth, Texas, is hosted by the American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD) and the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD). It is considered the premier meeting for dental public health, bringing together more than 800 dentists, dental hygienists, and others interested in dental public health.
The oral health roadshow continued last week as Spoeth joined leading experts in water fluoridation at a two-day meeting hosted by the Campaign for Dental Health. The event was held at Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, DC.
Note from FAN: The conference was held April 28-30, 2014