Congratulations to Assistant Professor Dr. Frances Power, winner of the 2022 Oral Health Promotion Award of the Canadian Dental Association (CDA)! The award was announced during the CDA鈥檚 annual general meeting in April 2023. The award recognizes individuals or organizations who have improved the oral health of Canadians through oral health promotion which can include creating public health policy or supportive environments, strengthening community action, developing personal skills, and/or increasing the prevention of oral diseases and disorders.
Dr. Power is the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences Community Oral Health Services course director. In her community oral health promotion course for third-year students in the DMD program, students create personalized oral health promotion sessions for underserved people. Since 2010, the students have visited over 50 community centres throughout the Montreal region and met with more than 6,000 individuals.
鈥淎s my dental students, community partners, and I hold the CDA in high esteem, this award means the world to us. Friendship building between my dental students and community groups enable underserved people to be heard about their access to care and health challenges, as well as their wishes for their oral health. Thanks to our Service to the Community program, our dental medicine students engage communities in need through equity, inclusion, respect, and love, so they become empowered through oral health knowledge and access to care鈥� says Dr. Power.