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By Fred Michmershuizem, Online Editor Best smiles at Oscars? We’ve all heard of the best and worst dressed lists that fashionistas compile after the annual Academy Awards ceremony. Now, there’s a list of the celebrities who flashed some of the best (and worst) smiles on the red carpet. Dr. Catrise Austin, owner of VIP Smiles and author of “5 Steps to the Hollywood A-List Smile: How the Stars Get That Perfect Smile and How You Can Too,” surveyed the hottest Hollywood smiles before the recent Oscars ceremony and announced her top picks for the most notable smiles. And the envelope, please ... According to Austin, Queen Latifah not only looked stunning in her on- shouldered studded dress, but she also had one of the most radiant smiles of the night. Austin referred to Latifah’s pearly whites as the “Smile Fit for a Queen.” The award for “Best Male Celeb- rity Smile” went to playful Hollywood hunk George Clooney. Austin commended heartthrob Zac Efron — who reportedly trans- formed his smile before becoming a superstar by closing his gap with porcelain veneers — for rocking a “very sexy white smile.” Meryl Streep showcased a daz- zling white smile along with her beautiful white dress. “From head to toe she was simply gorgeous,” Austin said. At least one celebrity, however, did not fare so well. Morgan Freeman, whose teeth looked like they “desperately needed a boost of teeth whitening to brighten his dull yellow smile,” received the award for “A Smile Not Worth a Mil- lion Dollars.” Ouch! Teeth whitening is the No. 1 requested cosmetic procedure in cosmetic dentistry practices across the nation, said Austin, who also rec- ommended either porcelain veneers or clear removable braces such as Invisalign or Clear Correct to make Freeman’s teeth straighter. Another celebrity who could show improvement, Austin said, was Miley Cyrus. While the teen superstar has an “overall nice smile,” Austin said, she noted that her teeth appeared to be a bit asymmetric as one front tooth actually hangs a tiny bit lower than the other. Austin recommends that a simple procedure such as tooth recontour- ing or perhaps redoing the upper front veneers will put the smile of the popular singer and actress back on the A-list. Austin, who is based in New York City, calls herself a “celebrity den- tist.” Her goal is to offer her patients “Hollywood-inspired” smiles. DT News DENTAL TRIBUNE | March 20104A a pilot program for its prevention- focused Community Dental Health Coordinator, a community health worker with dental skills now active in Philadelphia, rural Oklahoma and Indian tribal areas. • Convening an Access to Dental Care Summit in 2009 for a broad range of 144 stakeholders to iden- tify short- and long-term ways to improve oral health for underserved populations. • Creating a Public Health Advi- sory Committee to provide a formal presence within the ADA to receive input on issues of public health sig- nificance. • Convening the 2007 American Indian/Alaska Native summit to collaboratively address the unique needs of these populations. • Implementing an initiative to address oral health needs of the vulnerable elderly, one outcome of which will be the introduction of federal legislation. • Seeking to increase collabora- tion among private practice dentists and those working in federally quali- fied health centers and other dental ‘Lack of dentists on oral health panels,’ ADA protests By Fred Michmershuizem, Online Editor safety net clinics, where about 69 percent of the dentists are members of the ADA. • Lobbying for virtually every fed- eral program that could effective- ly improve access for the dentally underserved. “While the current dental delivery system serves most Americans well, we must work together to extend that system to the most vulnerable among us, who are at the greatest risk for developing oral disease,” Tankersley said. He said the ADA believes that there are three ways to help prevent oral disease: • To rebuild the public health infrastructure and expand and ade- quately fund safety-net programs, including Medicaid. • To increase community-based prevention programs. • To improve oral health literacy. “Our current dental public health infrastructure is insufficient to address the needs of the under- served, and the gap between needs and the ability to address those needs is growing,” Tankersley said. DT AD The Institute of Medicine Commit- tee on Oral Health Access to Services was taken to task recently by the American Dental Association for its decision to exclude private practice dentists from two panels it is conven- ing at the behest of the U.S. Depart- ment of Health and Human Services. The panels are tasked with studying oral health care delivery and access. ADA President Dr. Ronald Tank- ersley testified before the Institute of Medicine (IOM) on March 4. He pointed out that private practice den- tists represent nearly 92 percent of all professionally active dentists, and he said their input is crucial to address- ing the oral health care access issue. “I am obligated, on behalf of our members, to protest the IOM’s con- tinuing failure to include representa- tives of the private practice dental community on either of its two oral health panels,” Tankersley said. “We respect the experience and knowl- edge of the committee members, but the nation’s 167,000 private practice dentists represent some 92 percent of professionally active dentists in the United States. Without them, there can be no significant impact on access to oral health care, regardless of the delivery system.” Tankersley went on to outline the ADA’s efforts to address ways to improve access for underserved populations. “The ADA believes that oral health depends on preventing oral disease,” he said. “The nation will never drill and fill its way out of this problem. Our efforts to improve access to care have taught us that there are many contributing factors and barriers to the problem. Some are economic and others environmental. Some are direct and others indirect. Some are related to the individual and oth- ers to the provider. The ADA has been on the vanguard of advocating access solutions.” Tankersley cited the following ADA initiatives as examples: • Designing and implementing