WHEREAS, February is the month annually set aside to acknowledge Children’s Dental Health; and,

WHEREAS, San Francisco has a wonderful “village” of professionals who have worked consistently over the years to help ensure both quality and quantity of services for children in need; and,

WHEREAS, the San Francisco Department of Public Health would like to acknowledge the work of these agencies and individuals, as well as thank them for their dedication to working collaboratively with the dental community for the benefit of all children; and,

WHEREAS, the San Francisco Dental Society has been an excellent partner throughout the years helping to screen children at school sites; and,

WHEREAS, the Commission would like to acknowledge the Dental Society’s efforts screening kindergartners attending the San Francisco Unified School District; and,

WHEREAS, this project was proposed by the Dental Society four years ago and allows DPH to assess the health of all new incoming children to the elementary school system and the collection of data from these efforts has proved to be very useful in program planning and prevention efforts; and,

WHEREAS, another DPH partner in ensuring children’s dental health is the University of California San Francisco Dental School, which has two extremely dedicated dentists who have made careers of serving children’s dental issues; and,

WHEREAS, DPH currently has two collaborative research projects with UCSF funded by NIH centered around young children, discerning best methods to prevent decay and examining barriers to dental access; and,

WHEREAS, the Department’s own dental staff works tirelessly educating UCSF pediatric residents on a monthly basis, examining children aged 1-3 at San Francisco General Hospital regularly, educating pregnant women, moms with newborns, providing dental health education for preschool and elementary school children, school-based sealants for second graders at SFUSD and screening and facilitation for low-income adolescents into free orthodontic care; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the Health Commission recognizes February 2004 as “Children’s Dental Health Month” and supports quality dental services for children in San Francisco and beyond; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Health Commission would like to use the occasion of Children’s Dental Health Month to acknowledge the agencies and individuals who have made a difference with children’s dental health in San Francisco, including the following:

• Dr. Liza Karmardian, who initiated the dental screening program in schools when she was president of the Dental Society;
• Dr. Jeff Jang, who coordinates the school program as the head of “Community Programs” for the society;
• Dr. Francisco Ramos-Gomes, an active pediatric dentist for low-income children in San Francisco. His efforts on behalf of children include serving on DPH’s Mother Child Health (MCH) advisory board and on the First Five Commission;
• Dr. Jane Weintraub, a public health dentist and one of the leading public health researchers in the United States;
• DPH dental staff: Dr. Irene Hilton, Julie Javrotsky, Claire Sit, Rose Clifford, Mary Market, Sholey Malawa and Lorena Davila; and
• Mildred Crear and Barbara Garcia for their support of dental services within our new San Francisco Healthy Kids Program, which will have national policy implications.

I hereby certify that the San Francisco Health Commission at its meeting of February 17, 2004 adopted the foregoing resolution.

Michele M. Olson, Executive Secretary to the Health Commission