Communications and Public Health: the Vaccine and Fluoride Connection

...........This phenomenon, nicknamed the three Cs of today’s internet – creation, curation, and conversation – reflects the fact that in today’s interlinked digital society, public health and policy experts are not the only influencers in the conversation on fluoride. Fluoridation, like childhood vaccinations, teeters on the delicate cusp of prevention, public policy, and personal choice. Like vaccines, the science is clear and the benefits exponentially outweigh what minimal risks these interventions may pose; despite this, community water fluoridation continues to be contested because personal values plan a critical role in how health messages about fluoridation are received. The messengers, target audience, influencers within that audience, and delivery of the message all play an important role. Appealing to the value systems of our target audience and optimizing the three Cs of the internet to personalize our messages in a manner deemed socially acceptable is crucial. These social health communication strategies require innovative and unconventional approaches for actively and continually engaging in the digital conversation with our audiences.

Dental public health can learn from the California measles outbreak; we must not allow social influencers, who are not experts, to threaten 70 years of one of public health’s greatest achievements and devolve back to historically high rates of dental caries in the US, particularly when their platform is a foundation of misinformation. Public health advocates must continue to combat this threat and deliberate on critical strategies to modernize dental public health communication so that the voices of expertise and evidence can become more influential online. This value-based approach will guarantee policy its important place, while still preserving the autonomy of choice that is so important to people today. By restoring the scientific integrity of online conversations about fluoridation, we can empower online networks, arm them with the facts, optimize personalized decision-making processes, and positively influence their ultimate choice: to fluoridate.

Contributor Biography:
Brittany Seymour is an Assistant Professor of Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology at Harvard School of Dental Medicine where she studies digital health communication science. As the Inaugural Harvard Global Health Institute Fellow, she launched the Harvard Health and Media Collaborative and the Social Media and Health Fellowship program for students, where fellows have worked on projects in the United States, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Africa. Her work has explored digital communication around water fluoridation, childhood vaccinations, the Ebola epidemic, and adolescent HIV/AIDS. This year, she will be a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, an interdisciplinary and diverse community of academics and practitioners supporting its mission to engage the challenges and opportunities of cyberspace.

Sounds very erudite, another closed mind.