CE Webinar: Oral Health Equity for Older Adults: From Policy to Practice

📅 Date: Saturday, March 21st
⏰ Time: 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. PST
💻 Primary Location: Virtual

Participants will receive 1 CE credit for completion of the webinar.

To register for the webinar visit: https://dental-prof-dev.usc.edu/Courses

Description:

This two-hour webinar brings together Community Oral Health and Geriatric Dentistry faculty to examine equitable access to dental care for older adults — addressing the systemic forces that drive disparities and translating those realities into clinical practice at the chairside.

Objectives:

Upon completion of this webinar, participants will be able to:

nterpret epidemiologic trends in older adult oral health — edentulism, untreated caries, and periodontal disease — and explain how these patterns reflect social and policy inequities that shape access to care.

2. Describe how Medicare and Medicaid benefit design interacts with social determinants of health to limit care access, and identify multilevel strategies — including community programs and workforce innovations — to reduce oral health disparities.

3. Apply a geriatric assessment framework — accounting for frailty, polypharmacy, and functional status — to dental treatment planning for older adults.

4. Demonstrate culturally responsive communication with older patients and care teams, and articulate a model for integrating geriatric dental care into aging services networks to advance oral health equity.

Speakers:

Mehdi Mohammadi, DDS, MPH, MS

Dr. Mehdi is a dental educator and community health advocate at USC’s Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry. He earned his DDS through USC’s Advanced Standing Program for International Dentists and a master’s in Geriatric Dentistry from USC. He serves as Section Chair of Adult Community Outreach Programs, Director of the USC+URM Dental Clinic overseeing student-delivered care for individuals experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles, and Program Director of the Community Oral Health programs.

Rebecca Ortiz Bodensteiner, MAT, RDHAP

Rebecca Ortiz Bodensteiner has a bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene and a master’s degree in teaching from the University of Southern California. She is licensed as a Registered Dental Hygienist and Registered Dental Hygienist Alternative Practice. She works in the Special Patients Clinic at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry and is part of the faculty team for Ostrow’s Online Programs.

Piedad Suarez, DDS, MS

Dr. Suarez received her DDS from Universidad de Costa Rica and completed a dual certificate program in Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine at USC’s Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, joining the faculty upon graduation in 2006, and a Master’s degree in Gerontology from USC’s Davis School of Gerontology, She serves as Department Chair of Geriatric Dentistry, Special Needs and Behavioral Sciences, and has lectured and published on the oral health needs of medically compromised and geriatric populations.

Roseann Mulligan, DDS, MS

Dr. Mulligan received her DDS from UCLA and a Master’s in Gerontology from USC’s Davis School of Gerontology and oversees Herman Ostrow’s Community Health programs. An expert in dental care for older adults and persons with special needs, she is past president of multiple national organizations and has authored over 100 publications. She is the recipient of the 2014 Saul Kamen Award and the 2020 ADEA Gies Award for Achievement as a Dental Educator.