Message from the President

The Oral Health Foundation has been committed to meeting the preventive needs of communities that seek our support for over six years. As the Oral Health Foundation's President, I welcome you to our website and hope that you will find information about how the Oral Health Foundation can be of assistance to your community-based efforts to improve oral health outcomes. We have an important mission to fulfill and we want to do so by engaging partners who understand the oral health needs of our communities and who are committed to addressing those needs through results-oriented strategies.

We embrace the challenge to attain optimal oral health for all Massachusetts residents. The current oral health status of underserved populations in Massachusetts is alarming. These poor oral health outcomes can only be improved by dramatic changes that result in accessible, inclusive, community-oriented and prevention-focused systems that address oral health. The most dramatic results will come from collaborative efforts that address the root causes of oral health disease. The Oral Health Foundation welcomes ideas for efficient and effective remedies that are directed at those root causes.

Through the Foundation's grants and programs, we hope to improve policies and practices at the political, institutional, and community levels that will not only create better conditions and sustainable advances in oral health outcomes for underserved populations, but will ultimately address significant disparities in health care.

As we set forth on a new path toward systemic change, we invite requests for financial and program support that reach beyond immediate, short-term needs and engage proactive prevention strategies that have potential for long-term impact. We acknowledge the urgency to address gaps in services and will continue to support enhancements in the Safety Net systems.

The investments and partnerships the Foundation has made will continue to benefit those who do not have access to oral health care, lack the awareness of its importance, and/or suffer with poor health outcomes. Through a systems change approach, we will work with communities on creative results-oriented programs to improve oral health.

Ralph Fuccillo
President

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