Diablo DAS CE Course - 4CE

Date: June 26, 2025

Time: 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Where: Live CE virtually via Zoom

Topic: Oral Health Literacy: Achieving Patient Behavior Through Effective Communication

Speakers: LIndsey Robinson, DDS, Heather Lawler, RDH, MSDH, Susan L. Ivey, MD, MHSA

Description:

This virtual 1.5-hour training for the Diablo Dental Assistants Society will focus on the key factors that affect and promote oral health literacy (OHL) and how dental professionals can access the CA OHL Toolkit and implement it in their practices, including use of teach-back with their patients. We will share the experiences of dental professionals using these approaches, and attendees will have the opportunity to practice teach-back using patient vignettes, and to discuss their experiences with patient communication improvement strategies.

OHL is the patient’s ability to understand and act on oral health information and the provider’s ability to communicate oral health information. OHL is a key strategy to improve health equity, dental care practices, and patient-provider communication.

Advancing OHL is a key goal of the CA Department of Public Health, Office of Oral Health (CDPH OOH), the American Dental Association, and many dental professional organizations. Over 20 years of OHL research and practice have identified evidence-based communication techniques and other approaches that can be used with patients in dental practice settings. However, most dental professionals have not had OHL training either in their professional or continuing education experiences, and there are few supportive resources available for them to learn about OHL or teach-back.

During the past four years, the CDPH OOH and the UC Berkeley Health Research for Action (HRA) center, in partnership with state and national dental professionals, have developed trainings and the CA OHL Toolkit to support dental professionals and their teams. The Toolkit is a free, easy-to-use, digital resource for oral health providers to learn about OHL and how to implement best practices in their dental practices.

Learning outcomes:

Attendees will:

• Recognize how oral health literacy in dental practices can improve communication with patients, patient oral health outcomes, and health equity.
• Learn how to access and use the California OHL Toolkit.
• Understand how to apply and use oral health literacy principles and strategies like teach-back with diverse patients in dental practice settings.
• Discuss experiences with patient communication barriers and facilitators.

Logistics:

Virtual 1.5-hour training with a presentation, practice of teach-back using patient vignettes in small group settings, and open dialogue between attendees and presenters.

Members: $10

Non-Members: $15

Deadline to register: June 24, 2025