70. Dentistry in Ohio: Dr. Sharon Parsons on Prevention, Pain, and Advocacy
Dan talks with Dr. Sharon Parsons, a Bexley, Ohio-based general dentist and the Immediate Past President of the Ohio Dental Association.
Dan and Dr. Parsons talk about a wide range of issues, including Dr. Parsons' efforts to bring more diversity to dentistry in Ohio; initiatives to rethink how Ohio dentists approach pain and the prescription of opioids; her work with the ODA during the early months of COVID-19 as Ohio dental practices prepared to reopen; and general questions about why Americans tend to undervalue dental care.
You can read about Dr. Parsons' work with the Ohio Dental Assocation here (on prescribing), here (on COVID-19), and here (on diversity and social justice).
On the episode, Dan mentions Not Far from Me: Stories of Opioids and Ohio, the book he co-edited and to which Dr. Parsons contributed, which you can read about here. Read more about her advocacy in the wake of losing her son, Sean, to an opioid overdose here.
Produced by Dan Skinner and Mark Frantz