Journal of the California Dental Association
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Our recent analysis of how soda tax debates appear in the news revealed that oral health professionals seldom appear. By elevating their expert voices, oral health practitioners can contribute new and salient arguments for soda taxes to the public discourse and help advance public policy that improves oral health outcomes. We propose media advocacy strategies that oral health professionals can use to increase their visibility in the news to make the case for soda taxes.
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The past decade has witnessed an alarming increase in the number of deaths due to prescription opioids that has paralleled the rise in the number of opioid prescriptions dispensed. Prescription drug monitoring programs, abuse-deterrent formulations and proper disposal of opioids have been promoted to help combat the opioid epidemic. We discuss changes that dentists, the third most frequent prescribers of opioids, can implement to help reduce the risk of prescription opioid abuse in their communities.