COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP

Dr. John S. Zapp, Chairman: July, 1970-December, 1970

Dr. I. Lawrence Kerr, Chairman: January, 1971-December, 1972

PREFACE

At a meeting held on April 8, 1969, officers of the American Dental Association urged Robert H. Finch, then Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, to establish an advisory committee to study the Department's dental health programs and suggest ways in which they could be improved. Mr. Finch agreed that such a committee was in order and directed that preparatory staff work be undertaken.

On July 9, 1970, the Advisory Committee on Dental Health to the Secretary was formally established by Elliot L. Richardson, Mr. Finch's successor. The formal statement of determination, which he approved to establish the Committee, described its purpose and functions as follows:

Purpose

To advise the Secretary on dental health programs and priorities in prevention, education, research and service; on organizational arrangements and administrative mechanisms for achieving maximum coordination and effectiveness of dental health activities within DHEW; and on mechanisms for promoting interdepartmental cooperation in the development and operation of programs to improve the dental health of the public.

Functions

The Committee will address itself first to the identification of appropriate long
and short range goals in dental health for DHEW and to the setting of dental
health priorities between and within the areas of prevention, education, research
and service. It will then review all dental health activities currently supported by
appropriations to the Department. This examination will cover past and current
goals, activities, program effectiveness, and the possible effects of past and cur-
rent organizational structure on program operations. With this review as a back-
ground, the Committee will consider the organizational structure, administrative
mechanisms, and program modifications which DHEW might adopt to achieve
the proposed goals in the most efficient and effective manner. Subsequent work
of the Committee will focus on issues related to the strengthening of interdepart-
mental working relationships on dental health matters, particularly with programs
for which the DHEW has consultative responsibilities and programs which are
highly relevant to DHEW areas of responsibility, and on issues of national impor-
tance which tend to limit the availability of high quality preventive and restorative
dental services for all segments of the public."

*During the early months of its deliberations, the Committee gave special emphasis to the study of dental care as part of national health insurance. This was done at the particular request of Department officials. Accordingly, in the remaining months, time constraints precluded fulfillment of all of the functions assigned to it.

Seventeen members of the Committee were appointed as of September 1, 1970, and they held an initial meeting on October 29-30 under the chairmanship of Dr. John S. Zapp, then Special Assistant for Dental Affairs to the Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs.

The remaining eight members of the Committee were named as of February 1, 1971, and the first meeting of the full Committee came on February 45.

Because of the press of his new duties as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislation, Dr. Zapp appointed Dr. I. Lawrence Kerr to succeed him as Chairman of the Committee.

During the course of its deliberations, the Committee had occasion to call upon various Departmental agencies and staff members for assistance, without which it would have been impossible for its work to proceed. Help was given unfailingly, and the Committee is most grateful to all who worked with it. The report and its recommendations, of course, are solely those of the Committee itself.