Staffer Dexter Cooper Wins 1st Place in Oral Health Integration Hack-a-thon

In September, Project Manager Dexter Cooper attended the Meharry Oral Systemic Integration Summit hosted by the Meharry Medical College’s School of Dentistry in Nashville, TN. At this meeting, a diverse group of attendees, including those representing the dental profession, academia, community organizations, government organizations, foundations, and oral health industry professionals, gathered to participate in a hack-a-thon. Each assigned team needed to work together to pitch a hypothetical solution to an oral health problem spanning three different categories: prevention, work force development, and oral system integration.

After being judged by a four-person panel against five other pitches, Dexter’s team won first place! His team pitched a prevention app to help parents reduce the risk of their child(ren) developing cavities by using their phone as a screening device. The app would inform the parent if their child is at low, moderate, or high risk of cavities based on bacterial activity. While this app does not yet exist, we are so proud of the work of Dexter and his team. Could this hack-a-thon winning idea be a future KDHRC proposal? Time will tell!