The Chief Dental Officer is an official position created by the Government of Canada to improve the oral health status of Canadians and to increase awareness about the prevention of oral diseases. They report to the Assistant Deputy Minister of the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch and to the Deputy Minister of Health. The current chief dental officer is Dr. Peter Cooney. This position was established in 2004.
They are involved in many programs including:
- Oral Health and the Canadian Health Measures Survey: This will be used to associate the effect of oral health on major health concerns such as diabetes, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
- Federal, Provincial, Territorial Dental Director's Working Group: a group in which public dental health programs will be evaluated for effectiveness.
- Children's Oral Health Initiative: was developed to analyse the difference in oral health of Inuit children and the mainstream population.
Famous quotes containing the words chief, dental and/or officer:
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—Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)
“[T]hose wholemeal breads ... look hand-thrown, like studio pottery, and are fine if you have all your teeth. But if not, then not. Perhaps the rise ... of the ... factory-made loaf, which may easily be mumbled to a pap betweeen gums, reflects the sorry state of the nation’s dental health.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“If the tax-gatherer, or any other public officer, asks me, as one has done, “But what shall I do?” my answer is, “If you really wish to do anything, resign your office.” When the subject has refused allegiance, and the officer has resigned his office, then the revolution is accomplished.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)