Disaster response in Illinois: the role for dentists and dental hygienists.

Taking a leadership role, the Illinois Department of Public Health's Division of Oral Health has helped to successfully integrate oral health professionals into the emergency medical response system in Illinois by raising awareness, building needed partnerships, identifying and garnering resources, and facilitating training, policy development, surveillance, and evaluation. Applying the same principals and standards to the integration of oral health and disaster preparedness and response as it does to all facets of dental public health, the division has partnered with the Disaster Emergency Medicine Readiness Training Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago and many other key stakeholders to cement oral health as an integral component to the public health response system in Illinois.