Francisco Ramos-Gomez

Francisco Ramos-Gomez, DDS, MS, MPH is a Professor of Pediatric Dentistry at UCLA, Director for the UCLA Center for Children’s Oral Health, and Chair of the Division of Preventive and Restorative Oral Health Sciences.

Throughout his career, his research has focused on early childhood caries prevention, oral disease risk assessment, and community health, specifically underserved and vulnerable populations.

Dr. Ramos-Gomez has been funded by NIDCR for the last 23 years to reduce oral health disparities in children and is the co-founder of the Center to Address Disparities in Children’s Oral Health, which aims to reduce oral health disparities among ethnic/racial groups.

  • Oral health disparities / inequities related to income and race/ethnicity, geographic location persist worldwide, and early childhood caries (ECC) continues to be the most common chronic disease among children under the age of 5.

This lecture is sponsored by Colgate.

Summary:

Effective models of ECC show the necessity of preventive care for pediatric patients and highlight the importance of an Age One Visit for all children, regardless of socioeconomic status, race, or ethnic background.

As such, there must be a shift in health care policies and recommendations to reflect the importance of the Global “Age One Visit” recommendation as an issue of “Equity”.

By ensuring that all children are seen by a dentist by 12 months of age, we can position children’s oral health as a matter of equity, social justice, and human rights, paving the way to ECC prevention and a “Cavity free future” for children around the world.