Formed to address oral health data needs of the OH Network, Federal and Non-Federal partners, Funders and others. The goal of the DMVUDWG is to act as content experts, connectors, catalysts, advocates, and as a clearing house for data visualization, utilization, dissemination and build a national oral health database.
Despite their importance in understanding population health, many oral health measures are not included in reports due to lack of availability, fragmentation, non-integration of oral health indicators, and/or non-integration of determinants of health and social justice concerns. Using a diverse group of measures that consider: disease outcomes, the health of children and adults, the health care delivery system, the quality of care, social determinants and oral health indicators provides a broad understanding of population health and assist with the reduction of disparities by race, age, geography and income to improve oral health and overall health.
Although oral health has a well-documented effect on both the physical and mental health of individuals, there is no readily obtainable data source for all counties in the United States. There is a lack of oral health data and the ability to trust our own oral health stories with evidence. The DMVUDWG recognizes the gap in oral health data and will use effective visualization methods to share the human impact of numbers. The DMVUDWG will identify the types of measurements that are needed for assessing, planning and evaluating oral health status and address the overall oral health measurement needs of the Network and others.
Some of the major objectives of the DMVUDWG are:
- Identify data needs of the Oral Health 2020 Network
- Identify exiting data sources
- Develop crosswalk with OH 2020 goals and measures
- Disseminate information to OH 2020 Network about existing data sources
- Assist Network members with using data
- Explore methods to collect county (or smaller) level data cost-effectively
- Provide recommendations for new data sources
- Develop partnerships with other organizations collecting oral health-related data to improve standardization and the usefulness of data for OH 2020 Network members
The DMVUDWG’s short-term outcome goal is; All OH 2020 Network members will have oral health data to show progress on Network goals.
The DMVUDWG’s intermediate-term outcome goals are; All OH 2020 Network members will have oral health data to guide decision making related to oral health policy, resource allocation, workforce development, and public health practice.
The DMVUDWG’s longer-term outcome goals are; Decisions made using oral health data contribute to the following long-term outcomes: Public oral health resources are expanded to meet the need, oral health and related health outcomes are improved and identify Champions in the field.