Integrating Oral and General Health Through Health Literacy Practices

Oral health care and medical health care both seek to maintain and enhance human health and well-being. Yet, dentistry and primary care in the United States are largely separated and isolated from each other. Each has its own siloed systems for education, service delivery, financing, and policy oversight. The result has been duplication of effort, a cultural gap between the two professions, and lost opportunities for productive collaboration and better health.

On December 6, 2018, in Washington, DC, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop titled Integrating Oral and General Health Through Health Literacy Practices. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Table of Contents

• Front Matter
• 1 Introduction and Overview
• 2 Integrating Oral Health, Primary Care, and Health Literacy
• 3 Systems Thinking, Integration, and Health Literacy as a Catalyst
• 4 Health Literacy and Care Integration
• 5 Exploring Pathways to Integration
• 6 Developing a Research Agenda for Integration
• 7 Reflections on the Workshop
• References
• Appendix A Workshop Agenda
• Appendix B Biographical Sketches
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