Central Mass Symposium

6 CEUs

Member: $79 Non-Member: $99

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Description

Central Mass Symposium

Date/Time: Sun, Sep 14, 2025: 7:30 AM – 3:30 PM ET

Location: Devens Common Center, 31 Andrews Pkwy, Devens, MA

REGISTER TODAY: CLICK HERE 

 

Event Overview:

Keynote Address: “Fillings the Gaps”
Be inspired by oral health crusader, Amber Lombardi IPDH, subject of the short documentary from Find Help Films, “Filling the Gaps.” Amber is a Maine dental hygienist, whose vision, passion, dedication and mobile dental clinic are “filling the gaps” for Maine’s most vulnerable populations. Amber will share her vision, answer questions and allow attendees to view her mobile clinic.

Speaker: Amber Lombardi IPDH

 

First Course: “MassHealth Dental Update”

Speaker: Samantha Jordan DMD, MPH, MassHealth Dental Director

Course Description:
This course offers a focused review for public health dental hygienists of the MassHealth Dental Program, including recent updates and key reminders relevant to clinical and community-based care. The session will also reinforce how public health dental hygienists play a vital role in advancing health outcomes within the framework of MassHealth by expanding access to care.

Learning Objectives:

  • Develop an understanding of MassHealth, the Massachusetts Medicaid program that provides dental coverage to over two million residents.
  • Review recent updates and key reminders about the MassHealth Dental Program.
  • Identify the role of public health dental hygienists in improving access to care through MassHealth participation.
  • Discuss questions about the MassHealth Dental Program

 

Second Course: “Caries Stabilization: SDF modified ‘ARTs’/ ‘no-drill’ restorative protocols.”

Speaker: John Echternach DDS

Course Description:
This lecture presentation offers a view into Minimally Invasive Clinical Care for the dental professional.

Learning Objectives:

  • Discuss rationale for caries stabilization.
  • Examine the pathological nature of caries.
  • Analyze the chemistry and biocompatibility of the 3 essential medicines, silver diamine fluoride, glass ionomer cement and povidone iodine used to prevent and stabilize caries.
  • Outline clinical protocol for caries stabilization.

 

Third Course: “Opportunities for Medical-Dental Integration within Accountable Care Organizations in Massachusetts.”

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the structure and goals of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in the context of Massachusetts’ healthcare delivery system.
  • Explain how ACOs create opportunities for medical-dental integration, particularly in safety-net and primary care settings.
  • Identify real-world examples of integration efforts in Massachusetts, including screening and referral programs, co-location models, and virtual care pathways.
  • Interpret emerging data on patient interest and system readiness to inform future pilot initiatives and policy development in integrated oral health care.

Speaker: John Ahern MB BCh BDent.Sc PhD

 

Fourth Course: “Public Health Dental Hygienists (PHDHs) in Massachusetts – Updates from the Office of Oral Health, Massachusetts Department of Public Health.”

Speakers: Angela M Verheyen, MSDH – Program Lead, Xiao Guo, MSc – Epidemiologist, Matthew Horan, DMD, MPH – Dental Director

Learning Objectives:

  • Define the reporting requirements associated with practicing as a PHDH
  • Summarize the distribution of PHDHs
  • Describe the populations and practice settings served by PHDHs
  • Identify and interpret the volume and scope of services provided by PHDHs
  • Categorize the patient needs identified by PHDHs

 

REGISTER TODAY: CLICK HERE 

The Speakers

Amber Lombardi IPDH

Amber Lombardi is a University of New England graduate and a Master of Public Health candidate. Amber started Mainely Teeth, a non-profit mobile dental clinic, to bring community access to quality dental care. Mainely Teeth\’s mission is to break down barriers to oral health care and provide access to quality, compassionate dental care to individuals, families, and communities. Core to this mission is the belief that quality oral health care is a basic human right, not a privilege. Amber never wavers in her commitment to serving those left out of the traditional medical system due to systemic issues of racism, socioeconomic privilege or the gap between private and public health insurance.

Over the last five years, Amber has worked to develop and implement the first virtual dental home pilot for the state of Maine, creating access to care in the most rural settings. Mainely Teeth has expanded services to over 200 sites across the state along with three brick-and-mortar offices and two mobile dental clinics that provide care to all 16 counties in Maine.

Samantha Jordan DMD, MPH; MassHealth Dental Director

Dr. Samantha Jordan is the Dental Director of MassHealth, the Massachusetts Medicaid program. Dr. Jordan is a board-certified dental public health specialist focused on advancing health justice through policies that support equitable, accessible, and affordable oral health care and health outcomes for all in Massachusetts. She also practices as a general dentist one afternoon per week at a non-profit dental clinic in Quincy, MA.

John S. Echternach headshot

John S. Echternach DDS

John S. Echternach DDS is a retired general dentist who maintained a private practice in Henniker, NH for 40 years. He has been an active member of the American Dental Association, New Hampshire Dental Society and Concord Dental Society. His role in organized dentistry includes more than 16 years in a leadership capacity in both the NHDS and the CDS.

In his retirement, John assumed the role of teacher of healthcare professionals, with his focus on a specific treatment: the science and clinical applications of silver diamine fluoride (SDF), glass ionomer cements and povidone iodine. After learning about the uses of SDF toward the end of his career, he successfully used this method on both children and adults for the last 3 years in his Henniker practice but had started using glass ionomers in the 1980s. More recently, Dr. Echternach implemented a working model to provide effective, low cost, low tech clinical care in his “pop- up” clinics.”

John Ahern MB BCh BDent.Sc PhD

Dr. Ahern is a physician and dentist based at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Cambridge Health Alliance. A former Fulbright Scholar to Harvard Medical School, he completed his PhD in 2019 and has since led several first-author publications in leading primary care journals, including the Journal of General Internal Medicine, the Annals of Family Medicine, and the British Journal of General Practice. His work focuses on leveraging dental medicine to advance medical practice and policy, with a sustained commitment to clinical innovation and interdisciplinary integration in healthcare.