Aetna Chief Dental Officer Speaks On Oral Health Literacy With National Dental Association

HARTFORD, CONN., July 15, 2010 — Mary Lee Conicella, DMD, Aetna's chief dental officer, will speak to dental students on oral health literacy Sunday, July 18, during the National Dental Association’s (NDA) 97th annual convention. Conicella will speak during the convention’s Student Professional Development seminar. The forum will help students use principles of health literacy in their practices. Conicella will discuss a variety of research on this topic, including a study showing that patients with low oral health literacy visit the dentist less often for preventive care.

"Poor oral health among diverse populations can be improved with member education, health literacy efforts and culturally sensitive communications," Conicella said. "In addition to spreading Aetna's health literacy message, I look forward to listening to students' perspectives on health literacy and how they think it applies to dental practice and oral health."

Aetna is dedicated to improving health literacy. The company recently supported the National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy released by the Department of Health and Human Services. The company provides tools for patients and dentists to improve oral health and overall well-being. Simple Steps to Better Dental Health is a website that teaches consumers about the importance of dental health. The interactive website helps patients make gradual changes to lower certain health risks.
 
Aetna offers a new continuing education course on oral health literacy for participating dentists. The course, developed with Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, helps dentists identify patients with limited health literacy because of cultural and language differences. It explains how to help patients better understand their diagnoses and gives tips and tools to help them care for their teeth. The three-credit continuing education course, "Oral Health Literacy – A Dental Practice Priority," is available to Aetna's participating dentists for free. Dentists can log in to the secure Aetna Dental site at www.aetnadental.com and click on "Continuing Education."

About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 36.1 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities and health care management services for Medicaid plans. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com and Aetna's Annual Report at www.aetna.com/2009annualreport.