futureFOCUS 2012: Healthy Steps to a Healthy Community will take place on Tuesday, May 8

With ever-rising health care costs and with preventable, chronic medical problems among the general population increasing at an alarming rate, preventive care is becoming more important than ever before to our overall healthcare system. Delta Dental of Missouri is hosting the 11^th annual futureFOCUS conference to promote continued conversation regarding trends and perspectives on individual, corporate and community wellness. The seminar is being held Tuesday, May 8, from 7:30 a.m. to Noon at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel's Khorassan Ballroom.

Two nationally recognized healthcare experts will share their perspectives and engage attendees in a conversation about trends, opportunities and pathways to individual, corporate and community wellness. These speakers will discuss the important links between maintaining good oral and overall health and the importance of diet, exercise and everyday lifestyle choices.  Attendees will gain insight from speaker Dan Sindelar, DMD, co-founder and board member of the American Academy for Oral Systemic Health. His passion focuses on the consequences of oral health on the health of the body, as well as on an organization’s bottom line, and his educational platform is helping dentists save lives by taking an oral-systemic approach in their practices. Dr. Sindelar’s presentation, The Oral-Systemic Connection, will highlight the mouth’s connection to the overall health of the body, honing in on the fact that more than 90 percent of systemic diseases reveal warning signs and symptoms in the mouth. Keynote speaker Dean Ornish, MD, the founder and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, will share cost-effective strategies for making sustainable diet and lifestyle changes based on individual needs, genes and preferences through his presentation, The Power of Personalized Lifestyle Changes. For over 30 years, his clinical research studies have proven that comprehensive lifestyle changes may reverse chronic diseases, even severe coronary artery disease and prostate cancer. His recent research shows that comprehensive lifestyle changes can have a positive effect on genes that promote these diseases.

Attendees will also be able to participate in one of two breakout sessions. Dr. Sindelar’s Dentists and Physiscians Unite! sessionwill discuss the powerful effect on patient health when dentists and physicians work together to improve patient oral and overall health and longevity. Melissa Celko-Kozmon, Director of Sales at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Enterprise, will host Creating a Culture of Wellness. She will share effective tools and strategies that will help HR professionals from companies of all sizes implement customized, measurable wellness programs to motivate employees, cultivate healthy environments and improve the company’s bottom line. 

The event is offered free of charge courtesy of Delta Dental. CE credits for HR professionals, producers and dentists will also be available. To register, visit www.deltadentalmo.com and click on futureFOCUS.