The Board of Directors of the Center for Oral Health is pleased to announce its appointment of Conrado E. Bárzaga as Executive Director of the Center.

Conrado E. Bárzaga, MD, is an internationally recognized public health leader with more than 17 years of progressively important positions with organizations addressing health care issues. He has served in top leadership positions for the Los Angeles County Commission on Children and Families First Proposition 10 (First 5 LA), Planned Parenthood, and Sacred Heart University’s Area Health Education Center.

See link below for the full announcement:
Conrado E. Bárzaga chosen as Executive Director for Center for Oral Health

To show support for SB 694, the following letter was sent to Senator Padilla's office by the Center for Oral Health:

Center for Oral Health SB 694 Letter of Support

October 4, 2011: The briefing, Impact of Community-Based Oral Health Services: Reducing the Barriers to Care was sponsored by the Center for Oral Health. Speakers focused on emphasizing preventive services to reflect the new focus of CMS and the Benefit Exchange, increasing access and utilization rates of dental care by providing services where people are and achieving sustainability and efficiency in public dental health program models.

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Floridians who lost health coverage in the recession and Medicaid patients are increasingly turning to emergency rooms for dental care, driving up costs for the uninsured and taxpayers, a study reported Thursday.

More than 115,000 people went to the hospital last year for dental care that could have been prevented or done at a much lower cost in a dentist's office, said officials of the Florida Oral Health Coalition, which did the study. That's up 9 percent since 2008. More than 15,500 of them were children.

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The homeless in San Mateo County will soon have something to smile about.

Beginning in January, a new mobile dental clinic will brighten grins and fix oral health problems at several sites, providing care that often falls to the wayside for the uninsured and delivering some confidence for those trying to move back to employment.

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