06/25/08 - California Program for Access to Care celebrated its 10th Anniversary in September 2007 and listed its major accomplishments including that CPAC served as a catalyst for improvements in Children’s Dental Care (1998-2002).
Dr Francisco Ramos-Gomez named as "an instrumental leader" in the campaign for children's dental care.
http://www.ucop.edu/cpac/documents/accomplishments.pdf

03/18/08 -Hispanics: The untapped market
http://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=nws&sub=rad&pag=dis&ItemId=300451&wf=34

06/22/07 - CA Assembly Bill to Expand Preventative Dental Services for Children
http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a18/press/20070327AD18PR01.htm

05/01/07 - Toothe Dacay Seen Increasing for Young Children
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN3042961520070501

02/01/07 - National Maternal Child Oral Health Resource Center:Knowledge Path:Oral Health and Children and Adolescents
http://www.mchoralhealth.org/knwpathoralhealth.html

01/25/07 - Dr. Ramos-Gomez gave a training session on Early Childhood Caries Prevention in Humboldt County at the Native American Community Health Center. http://eurekareporter.com/node/82928

08/30/06 - Fluoride Varnish Application Covered Under Medi-Cal Program for Children under
6 Years Old
http://www.cspd.org/news/message.asp?news_id=330

03/22/06 - Children's Oral Health: Closing the Gaps - 03/22/06 webcast archive
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/webcastmar06.htm#children

03/07/06 - KQED's Forum discusses the high incidence of dental disease in California children.
http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R603071000

02/07/06 - Fluoride Varnish Study covered in the New  York Times

Dental Health: Fluoride Varnish Found to Cut Cavities in Children

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

As little as one fluoride varnish treatment a year can cut the cavity rate in half for infants and small
children, according to new research. The treatment is easy to administer and has no known side effects.

The varnish is a fluoride compound that is brushed directly onto the teeth. Researchers randomly
assigned 376 children to receive parental counseling and no treatment, two fluoride treatments at one-
year intervals, or four fluoride treatments at six-month intervals over the two-year course of the study.

All the children, ranging in age from 6 months to 3½ years, had at least four teeth, and no cavities.

At the end of the study, published in the February issue of The Journal of Dental Research, children who
had no fluoride treatments were more than twice as likely to have had a cavity as those who had yearly
treatments, and almost four times as likely to have one as those who had had treatments at six-month
intervals.

Jane A. Weintraub, the lead author on the study and a professor in the School of Dentistry of the
University of California, San Francisco, said the treatment was inexpensive and easy to carry out.

"Other methods are difficult with 1-year-olds," she said. "Dental sealants, other types of topical fluorides
and mouth rinses are all harder to use with young children."

The researchers said they had no difficulty gaining cooperation with the treatment, even with infants.

The original article can be read on the New York Times website at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/07/health/07dent.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

The UCSF press release is available online:
http://pub.ucsf.edu/today/cache/news/200601302.html

08/31/05 - Extramural Loan Repayment Programs for Clinical and Pediatric Researchers

The purpose of the Loan Repayment Programs is the recruitment and retention of highly qualified health
professionals as clinical investigators and pediatric investigators. Through this notice, the NIH invites
qualified health professionals who contractually agree to engage in clinical research or pediatric research
for at least two years, and who agree to engage in such research for at least 50 percent of their work
schedule (not less than 20 hours per week based on a 40-hour work week), to apply for participation in
the NIH Loan Repayment Programs.

Applications will be accepted September 1 through December 1, 2005. They must be submitted via the
NIH Loan Repayment Website, http://www.lrp.nih.gov. For questions on the LRP-CR or PR-LRP, please
send an email to lrp@nih.gov or call the LRP helpline at (866) 849-4047. Direct remaining questions
regarding your research project to the relevant NIH scientific program contact listed at
http://www.lrp.nih.gov/contact/index.htm.

08/28/05 - NIH Offers $35,000 in Annual Student Loan Repayment

The application cycle for the NIH Loan Repayment Programs opens September 1, 2005, and closes
December 1, 2005. The NIH awards up to $35,000 annually in student loan repayments to health
professionals engaged in qualifying research. Details and the online application are available at
www.lrp.nih.gov. BETHESDA, MARYLAND-Starting Thursday, September 1, 2005, the National Institutes
of Health (NIH) will begin accepting applications to its five Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs). Deadline
for applications is December 1, 2005. The five LRPs offered by the NIH include the Clinical Research LRP,
Clinical Research LRP for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds, Contraception and Infertility
Research LRP, Health Disparities LRP, and Pediatric Research LRP. Through these programs, the NIH
offers to repay up to $35,000 annually of the qualified educational debt of health professionals pursuing
careers in biomedical and behavioral research. The programs also provide coverage for federal and state
tax liabilities. To qualify, applicants must possess a doctoral-level degree, devote 50 percent or more of
their time (20 hours per week based upon a 40-hour work week) to research funded by a domestic
non-profit organization or government entity (federal, state, or local), and have educational loan debt equal
to or exceeding 20 percent of their institutional base salary. Applicants must also be U.S. citizens,
permanent residents, or U.S. nationals to be eligible. "The NIH Loan Repayment Programs offer an easy
and effective way for research scientists to focus more on medical research and less on repaying student
loans," says Dr. Norka Ruiz Bravo, Deputy Director for Extramural Research. "Since 2002, nearly 4,000
qualified health professionals have benefited from more than $225 million disbursed in loan repayment
support. Through these programs, the NIH has opened doors for many young scientists to launch careers
in research without the burden of student loan debt."

All applications must be completed by 8 p.m. EST, December 1, 2005. Visit www.lrp.nih.gov to apply.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- "The Nation's Medical Research Agency"-is comprised of 27
Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is
the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical
research, and investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For
more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

This NIH News Release is available online at: http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/aug2005/od-29.htm.

08/28/05 - First Smiles training is available online

We are happy to announce that as of today, First Smiles training is available online. The First Smiles
Online Course takes about two hours to complete and is offered in two customized versions, one for
dental and one for medical professionals. To view this new, state-of-the-art training modality, visit our
First Smiles homepage, www.first5oralhealth.org, and click on the blue lettering in the center of your
screen that says NEW! Free, 2-unit continuing education course.