Smile Wellness: Insights from Natalia Chalmers, CMS Chief Dental Officer

In today's episode I speak with Natalia Chalmers DDS MHSc PhD. We discuss the important or oral and dental health and the intersection with social determinants of health. 

Natalia is the first-ever Chief Dental Officer in the Office of the Administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In her role, Dr. Chalmers has been advancing the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to care for the whole person, a key to reducing health disparities and advancing health equity. Natalia is a  board-certified pediatric dentist, oral health policy expert, and public health advocate who brings more than 20 years of clinical, research, industry, and regulatory experience to CMS. She previously served as a Dental Officer at the US Food and Drug Administration.

In the spring of 2022, CMS conducted the Oral Health Human-Centered Design Customer Engagement to understand barriers to oral health care access for Medicaid or dual (Medicare-Medicaid) eligible children and adults. 

As a product of the research, they co-created the “Barriers to Oral Health” illustration with external customers to represent the end-user perspective and highlight the most prominent obstacles individuals’ face as they seek to access or provide oral health care.