Oral Health Day 2025
Fluoride access in our communities
June 11, 2025
Everyone is welcome at Oral Health Day!
Each year, Oral Health Day is an opportunity for people from across North Carolina to come together and learn about innovations in oral health, policy advancements, and continued work to create a more accessible North Carolina where everyone has the opportunity achieve great oral health. Oral Health Day is for anyone interested in engaging in oral health advocacy — not only dental providers. Our mouths are part of our bodies, and oral health is whole-person health. If you would like to engage your community, advocate for systems-level change, and help create a better structure for oral health in North Carolina, Oral Health Day is a great first step!
Oral Health Day 2025
At NCOHC, we believe in the power of prevention, and fluoride is one of the best tools we have to stop tooth decay. Community water fluoridation helps ensure everyone has a fair shot at a healthy smile, but a lot of people have important questions about the naturally occurring mineral and its safety. At NCOHC’s annual Oral Health Day, we took a dive into the science and safety of fluoride, examined questions about the mineral, and discussed the best ways people can make sure they keep themselves and their families safe and healthy. Learn more about fluoride in our blog post.
Watch Oral Health Day 2025
2025 Oral Health Day Speakers
Keynote Speaker

Johnny Johnson, DMD, MS
Dr. Johnny Johnson is a pediatric dentist from Pinellas County, Florida, who is also the co-founder and president of the American Fluoridation Society. He has delivered presentations, training, and testimony about fluoride in numerous states, including Kansas, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin, and his home state of Florida, as well as in the U.K. and Canada.
Dr. Johnson’s leadership role in fluoridation advocacy began after his county commission voted to end fluoridation to >700,000 residents—a decision that was successfully reversed after he worked with others to form a coalition in the Clearwater-St. Petersburg, FL area. Dr. Johnson was a key source of information for the reporters and editors who helped the Tampa Bay Times win a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the fluoridation issue.
He received his dental training from the University of Florida, and he earned his Certificate in Pediatric Dentistry and Masters of Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Panelists

Steve Slott, DDS
A native of Burlington, NC, Dr. Steve Slott is a 1975 graduate of UNC-CH, and 1981 graduate of the UNC School of Dentistry. He spent 33 years in his private practice in Burlington where he treated primarily Medicaid and indigent populations, nine years within the NC Department of Public Safety treating prison inmates, and three years with Aspen Dental in Burlington as a clinical director.
In 2004, he founded the NC Missions of Mercy portable free dental program which he operated for six years prior to relinquishing the program to the NC Dental Society in 2010. In 2014, he joined with several other health care providers from around the country to found the the American Fluoridation Society, a non-profit, volunteer organization providing evidence-based information on community water fluoridation.
Dr. Slott is also a Fellow in the American College of Dentists, the International College of Dentists, and the Pierre Fauchard Academy. He and Nancy have two sons and two grandsons.

Rhonda Stephens, DDS, MPH
Dr. Rhonda Stephens is a board certified dental public health specialist and professor in the Department of Public Health Leadership and Practice at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. Prior to joining UNC in 2023, she worked for seven years in a variety of roles with the NC Division of Public Health, Oral Health Section, gaining extensive experience in the management of a state oral health program.
She has a record of securing and administering federal grant funding, most often supporting oral health workforce development initiatives in collaboration with partners across the state. Prior to her tenure in governmental public health, she served ten years as an FQHC dental director in Indiana.
In her current role at Gillings, Dr. Stephens is launching a new initiative around dental public health teaching and practice. She seeks to translate her clinical and administrative experience into teaching and other support to ensure current and future multidisciplinary workforces recognize and promote oral health as a matter of overall health and public health. Dr. Stephens also directs the Division of Public Health’s accredited dental public health residency program to train future dental public health specialists.

Tim Wright, DDS, MS
Dr. Tim Wright received his DDS degree from West Virginia University and completed his pediatric dentistry training and Master of Science Degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is currently a professor in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health at The Adams School of Dentistry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he has served as Pediatric Dentistry Department Chair and Department of Endodontics Interim Chair.
He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, a fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, and a past president of the American Association of Dental Research. He has Chaired the Counsel of Scientific Affairs for the American Dental Association and American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD).
Dr. Wright is the current Chair of the AAPD Evidence-Based Dentistry Committee and has published over 215 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts, edited three textbooks and authored 30 text chapters. He is also the editor in chief of the Journal of the American Dental Association.
About Oral Health Day
Every year NCOHC brings oral health advocates from across the state for a virtual event featuring dynamic lineups of expert speakers on important topics in oral health, health equity, and public health.