Our members enjoy professional support, educational programs, and numerous opportunities for participation in association decision making. With your support, we can carry out our mission to advance the art and science of dental hygiene, and to promote the highest standards of education and practice in the profession.

California Department of Public Health offers numerous bilingual educational materials regarding childhood lead poisoning prevention.

Bilingual flyer from the CA Department of Public Health.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development lead information

Lead is a toxic metal that was used for many years in products found in and around our homes. Lead also can be emitted into the air from motor vehicles and industrial sources, and lead can enter drinking water from plumbing materials. Lead may cause a range of health effects, from behavioral problems and learning disabilities, to seizures and death. Children six years old and under are most at risk.

Approximately 250,000 U.S. children aged 1-5 years have blood lead levels greater than 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood, the level at which CDC recommends public health actions be initiated. Lead poisoning can affect nearly every system in the body. Because lead poisoning often occurs with no obvious symptoms, it frequently goes unrecognized. CDC’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program is committed to the Healthy People goal of eliminating elevated blood lead levels in children by 2010.

Mexican-made “lead-free” bean pots contain high levels of toxic metal.

A resource from SAGE in English and Spanish. A reminder to cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze to prevent sickness from spreading. Prints legal size.

This resource helps you address stigmatization by providing best practices for inhibiting and the actions to take when you encounter stigmatization when new infectious diseases and illness emerge.

Early in an outbreak, such as the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, groups of people, places, and animals can be singled out and will be at risk of being stigmatized by association with the threat this virus poses. Groups are stigmatized by an infectious disease when the risk of infection to others is not present or remote but the association of the risk is magnified by others for that population group, or place or animal.

Just as adults spend most of their days at work, children spend many of their waking hours at school. So it’s not surprising that, along with their homes and communities, schools are where kids learn good habits, like being physically active every day, or potentially bad habits, like not making healthy decisions at lunch. Therefore, as we seek to help nurture the healthiest nation in one generation, schools are a central part of the strategy.