History

The Texas Oral Health Coalition (TxOHC) was established November 17, 2004 through a CDC three-year Cooperative Agreement for the Texas Department of State Health Services, Oral Health Program (DSHS OHP) to create a statewide oral health coalition to advance oral health issues in Texas.

TxOHC became incorporated and acquired nonprofit 501 (c) (3) status in 2008 with the specific purpose to gather and disseminate information relating to oral health and the delivery of oral health care in the state of Texas at no charge to the public.

The coalition’s core components are to:

• Educate others to increase the capacity of the healthcare workforce and integrate oral health into all aspects of health care.  Through the development of specialized trainings for health care workers in the perinatal and older adult health fields, providing access to available resources and promoting consistent and comprehensive oral health care helps to ensure medical and dental providers have the tools to meet the dental health needs of every Texan.
• Communicate and raise public awareness to improve public perception on the value of oral health to overall health and well-being. To help ensure oral health is included in health dialogue and public policy, people can learn from our website, ebriefs, webinar speakers, conferences, and through our collaborations with other organizations to translate the Texas Oral Health report Card into action.
• Advocate for Texas laws and policies to support access to oral health services for our most vulnerable populations and implement evidence-based prevention strategies to address oral health inequities. TxOHC strives to articulate and promote policies that advocate access to optimal oral health for all populations, regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status. It is our belief that interprofessional understanding and collaboration will achieve better health for Texas citizens throughout their lifespan.

The Texas Oral Health Coalition is proud to have a diverse board and membership that believes in including health equity into all aspects of our work. We do so by designing and creating oral health projects or programs using evidence-based public health initiatives that includes an element of fairness or justice that seeks to address inequity, or
oppression to access to care.