The Institute of Medicine (IOM) Roundtable on Health Literacy focuses on bringing together leaders from the federal government, foundations, health plans, associations, and private companies to address challenges facing health literacy practice and research and to identify approaches to promote health literacy in both the public and private sectors. The roundtable serves to educate the public, press, and policy makers regarding the issues of health literacy, sponsoring workshops to discuss approaches to resolve health literacy challenges. It also builds partnerships to move the field of health literacy forward by translating research findings into practical strategies for implementation. The Roundtable held a workshop March 29, 2012, to explore the field of oral health literacy.

The workshop was organized by an independent planning committee in accordance with the procedures of the National Academy of Sciences. The planning group was composed of Sharon Barrett, Benard P. Dreyer, Alice M. Horowitz, Clarence Pearson, and Rima Rudd. The role of the workshop planning committee was limited to planning the workshop. Unlike a consensus committee report, a workshop summary may not contain conclusions and recommendations, except as expressed by and attributed to individual presenters and participants. Therefore, the summary has been prepared by the workshop rapporteur as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop.

Contents

• THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
• PLANNING COMMITTEE ON ORAL HEALTH LITERACY
• ROUNDTABLE ON HEALTH LITERACY
• Reviewers
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Keynote Address
  • THE IMPORTANCE OF ORAL HEALTH LITERACY
• 3. Overview and Statement of the Problem
  • BACKGROUND OVERVIEW: EXPLORING THE INVISIBLE BARRIER TO ACHIEVING ORAL HEALTH
  • STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM—WHY IS ORAL HEALTH IMPORTANT AND WHAT ROLE DOES HEALTH LITERACY PLAY IN THE ETIOLOGY OF DENTAL/ORAL DISEASES
  • DISCUSSION
• 4. What Should One Look for in an Oral Health Literacy Assessment
  • ASSESSMENT OF ORAL HEALTH LITERACY: ONE APPROACH
  • DISCUSSION
• 5. Oral Health Literacy Programs
  • COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF ORAL HEALTH LITERACY
  • ORAL HEALTH LITERACY: HOW CAN WE IMPACT VULNERABLE POPULATIONS
  • DENTIST-PATIENT COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUES USED IN THE UNITED STATES: THE RESULTS OF A NATIONAL SURVEY
  • ORAL HEALTH AND PRIMARY PREVENTION
  • DISCUSSION
• 6. State Activities in Oral Health Literacy
  • ORAL HEALTH LITERACY ACTIVITIES IN STATE ORAL HEALTH PROGRAMS
  • ACTIVITIES OF THE CALIFORNIA DENTAL ASSOCIATION
  • STATE ACTIVITIES: NORTH CAROLINA
  • DISCUSSION
• 7. National Activities in Oral Health Literacy
  • NATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN ORAL HEALTH LITERACY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
  • HEALTH LITERACY IN DENTISTRY
  • AETNA: ACTIVITIES IN ORAL HEALTH LITERACY
  • DENTAQUEST FOUNDATION ORAL HEALTH 2014 INITIATIVE
  • DISCUSSION
• 8. Closing Remarks
• References
• APPENDIXES
  • Appendix A Workshop Agenda
  • Appendix B Speaker Biosketches

Rapporteur: Maria Hewitt.

This study was supported by contracts between the National Academy of Sciences and Aetna, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (HHSP233200900537P), the American College of Physicians Foundation, America's Health Insurance Plans, GlaxoSmithKline, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HHSH25034004T), Humana, Johnson & Johnson, the East Bay Foundation (Kaiser Permanente), Merck and Co., Inc., the Missouri Foundation for Health (09-0290-HL-09), and the UnitedHealth Group. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.

Suggested citation:

IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2013. Oral health literacy: Workshop summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.