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REMARKS BY:  DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:       AMERICAN DENTAL ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE, WASHINGTON, D.C.
DATE:        March 3, 1998

Thank you David for your gracious introduction.

On behalf of all of my colleagues at HHS, I want to thank you for this beautiful plaque - and for recognizing the contributions of the Department to the health and well-being of all Americans.

Perhaps some of you have seen my milk mustache ad. The ad has attracted quite a bit of positive attention on behalf of calcium and health. And, of course, I'm very pleased about that. It sort of puts me on the same team with Michael Jordan. Not a bad place to be.

But I must say, at least some of the credit for the ad should go to my dentist. Without healthy teeth, I would not have been able to keep a smile on my face for the six hours it took to shoot that one photograph.

But it's not just Cabinet Secretaries who benefit from your special skills. Last fall on a trip to Vietnam, I had the opportunity to honor some of the heroes of Operation Smile. This private initiative by dentists and doctors is giving children around the globe a joy they otherwise would probably never know: to look in the mirror and for the first time see a beautiful face - and a beautiful future.

That image of the dentist - as healer and sculptor - is the one that I've always believed best suits your profession. The jokes about drilling and filling are badly misplaced.

The real work of dentistry is about giving smiles - and living healthy.

But we both know that good oral health doesn't begin when we sit down in the dentist's chair. It begins with cutting edge research - and prevention.

Some of the best dental research in the world is now sponsored by the National Institute of Dental Research. In June, the Institute will celebrate its 50th anniversary. That is a milestone we can all take great pride in - because the ADA was instrumental in making dental and cranial-facial research an important part of the mission of the National Institutes of Health.

As for prevention, all of us have a responsibility for our oral health - and for teaching children that good oral hygiene will not only save their teeth and smiles, it can help save their lives.

That was an intriguing finding of researchers at the University of Minnesota who report that poor oral health might trigger blood clots that can lead to heart disease and stroke. Other research has shown a relationship between poor oral health and low birth weight babies.

The growing connection between oral health and general health is also why last April I commissioned the first Surgeon General's Report on Oral Health, and charged the National Institute on Dental Research to take the lead in preparing this report. The report will explore the effects of oral health on daily living; identify barriers to good oral health; evaluate emerging technologies; and make recommendations based on solid research. We hope to release a preliminary report next spring.

And with Dr. David Satcher serving as both our new Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health, the message of this new report will be carried to homes, schools and communities by a powerful and articulate voice.

But we must do more than make sure that Americans know how important it is to maintain good oral health, we must make sure they have access to high quality oral health care when the need arises.

And that's a battle we're waging on many fronts

In 1996, our Department's Inspector General noted that only 20 percent of children who are eligible for Medicaid have access to preventive dental care. That's why the Health Care Financing Administration and HRSA will be supporting a conference in June of state Medicaid directors - and dental professionals - specifically to improve access to dental care.

And that's why, as you know, we are recommending that states include dental care in their package of benefits under our new $24 billion dollar Children's Health Insurance Program. All our Administration can do, however, is make our views known to the states. Under the law, the final decision is theirs. That's why I encourage you to keep up your strategy of working with individual states so that they make dental services part of their CHIP plans.

Having access to health care is critical - but never sufficient.

We also have to make sure that the health care Americans receive is not just available - but of high quality. That's why the President just announced a "patient bill of rights" for millions of Americans whose health insurance is financed by the federal government. We believe strongly that the federal government should be getting its own house in order as we ask private employers to accept federally enforceable standards.

And we are doing that.

But we also believe that what is right for federal employees, and Medicare and Medicaid patients, is equally right for citizens enrolled in private health insurance plans. One of your own - dentist and Congressman Charlie Norwood - has drafted a patient rights bill which sets a minimum standard of care. Many other bills have also been introduced in Congress.

We think this debate is taking us in the right direction, and we look forward to coming up with bipartisan legislation that will assure quality health care for all Americans into the 21st century.

But government cannot do this job alone - and should never have to.

That's why we're working with Joe Garagiola's National Spit Tobacco Education Program - and Major League Baseball - to break the one hundred year link between baseball and spit tobacco. And that's why we need strong support from dentists and all other health professionals to achieve our goals of good health - and good health care - for people of all ages.

That means helping to get the word out about the importance of prevention and early detection, and talking with patients about the causes and risks of diseases like oral cancer.

It means letting your patients know that their children might be eligible for health insurance coverage under CHIP.

And it means helping to fight for comprehensive tobacco legislation so that another generation of young people does not fall victim to the addiction of tobacco.

This is a winning time for the dental profession.

Your contribution to the oral health and general well-being of your patients has never been greater - nor more recognized. New technologies for helping people protect their teeth for a lifetime continue to emerge. And every day you make possible, in the words of Shakespeare, "that smile we would aspire to."

So I congratulate and thank the American Dental Association for helping to teach our nation the simple fact that when we neglect a brighter smile, we neglect a brighter future.

Thank you.