GSDM Faculty Member Presents At APHA Annual Meeting
On Sunday, October 30, 2015, Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine faculty member Ms. Kathy Lituri spoke about the benefits of community water fluoridation at the Opening General Session of the 2015 American Public Health Association Annual Meeting and Exposition held in Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Lituri’s speech carried particular significance, because 2015 marked the 70th anniversary of the implementation of the first community water fluoridation program, which took place in Grand Rapid, Michigan.
Ms. Lituri, who is also Immediate Past Chair of the APHA Oral Health Section, addressed the entire assembly of more than 5,500 public health professionals during her speech about the benefits of community water fluoridation. Ms. Lituri’s speech marked the first time that a Chair from an APHA Section spoke during the Opening General Session of an APHA Annual Session and Exposition.
Ms. Lituri began her remarks at the Opening General Session by acknowledging the city of Chicago, where the Annual Meeting and Exposition was taking place, for being one of the first cities to authorize fluoridation, 61 years ago in 1954.
“Fluoridation gives all of us, including the most high risk populations, a chance for better oral health, a chance for all of us to become part of the healthiest nation in one generation,” Ms. Lituri said during her speech. “The CDC recognized it as one of the ten great public health achievements of the twentieth century and it’s been a healthy people objective since 1990.”
She continued, “Today, more than 210 million people, or 74.6 percent of the US population, on public water supplies live in fluoridated communities.”
The 2015 APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition took place from October 30 to November 2. Attendees came from all over the world.
The APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition featured more than 1,000 various scientific sessions and hundreds of other events, including social events, film screenings, and special sessions. The Meeting and Exposition also had eight sessions and four poster presentations on the topic of water fluoridation. The theme of the meeting was “Health in All Policies.”
During her speech, Ms. Lituri delivered a three part checklist for the members of the audience to challenge themselves to maintain:
- Every local and state health department and health professional organization must have credible information about fluoridation on their websites.
- Every school of public health and schools of nursing, dental medicine, medicine, and social work must provide credible information about fluoridation to their students, faculty and staff and on their websites.
- All of us must educate our neighbors, community leaders, and policy makers about the benefits of fluoridation.
Ms. Lituri first became interested in the topic of community water fluoridation about two-and-a-half years ago when the town she lives in, Lincoln, Massachusetts, faced a challenge to its community water fluoridation program. She ended up taking the lead on the effort to ensure that the town maintained its program.
“I made a decision to never be in a reactive position again,” said Ms. Lituri. “And that public health professionals—not just oral health care providers—should be poised and ready to defend and promote community water fluoridation.”
Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter praised Ms. Lituri for her advocacy, “I would like to thank Ms. Lituri on behalf of our GSDM community for both representing GSDM at the APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition and for her tireless work in support of community water fluoridation.”