About Us

The Oral Health Program (OHP) is administered by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, located within the Bureau for Public Health, Office of Maternal, Child and Family Health (OMCFH) under the Division of Infant, Child and Adolescent Health. Our mission is to promote and improve the oral health of all West Virginians.

The primary goals of the Program are:

1.  To provide preventive education
2.  To improve access to oral health care
3.  To monitor the oral health status of the citizens across the State

Under the direction of the State Dental Director, the Program strives to enhance and maintain good oral hygiene of the citizens across the State by:

• Providing the public with oral health education and oral hygiene supplies to community organizations and schools
• Supplying fluoride supplements and water test kits
• Building community partnerships to promote and support state and local oral health programs and policies
• Assisting communities in developing school-based dental services
• Promoting and supporting prevention services and access to affordable dental care
• Tracking dental disease rates in the State
• Working with dental and dental hygiene schools to maintain a sizable and skilled oral health workforce
• Evaluating the effectiveness, availability, and quality of oral health programs and services

There are five projects that comprise the Oral Health Program:

1. Children’s Dentistry
2. The Denture Project
3. Pre-Employment
4. Oral Health Workforce
5. Jobs and Hope

These projects aid the Oral Health Program in promoting the importance of good oral health in an effort to prevent and minimize disease across the lifespan.