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A significant need exists to expand the capacity of an oral healthcare workforce with the essential competencies to deliver patient-centered, team-based, integrated primary care. Addressing this need requires a fundamental shift in health professions education. To enable the integration of oral health care as an essential component of comprehensive primary health care, health professionals need to develop core competencies in oral health and interprofessional collaborative practice.  With appropriate training and education, health professionals can make valuable contributions to eradicate dental disease in children and improve oral health across the lifespan. 

In 2013, Innovations in Oral Health, funded by the DentaQuest Foundation, was established at Northeastern University, Bouvé College of Health Sciences to advance innovations in research, education and practice for optimal oral health. Our program aims to integrate oral health across all health professions curricula in order to develop core competencies in oral health and interprofessional collaborative practice.