These principles are commitments — to one another, to the communities who partner with this work, and to the proposition that whole-person health, with oral health fully included, is the standard worth building.
Oral Health Is Inseparable from Whole-Person Health.
The health of the mouth and the health of the body are interconnected. We recognize oral health as a fundamental determinant of well-being, longevity, and health equity — and commit to treating it as such in every domain of our work.
Integration of Oral and General Health Is a Critical Public Value.
Fragmenting health care — excluding oral health or mental health from whole-person care — produces preventable disease, deepens inequity, and drives avoidable cost. Integration is both a moral imperative and a public and economic necessity. We are compelled to act by both the evidence and our shared values.
A Common Language Creates Shared Identity and Accountability.
Collective action requires shared understanding. We define integration as transforming systems of care through partnerships that enable better coordination across all health services — with the purpose of improving whole-person health, especially for underserved populations and those with chronic and complex needs. Coordination across care settings is a practical reality; our deeper purpose is not coordination for its own sake, but whole-person health as the standard of care.
Trust and Commitment Are Essential to Build on What Works — Together.
Successful models of whole-person, coordinated care already exist, and no single organization can scale them alone. We commit to a networked approach that learns from proven innovations, reduces duplication, and creates conditions for collective impact beyond what any of us can accomplish independently.
Policy Enables; Implementation Transforms — and Barriers Must Be Named.
Policy is the foundation, not the finish line. Beyond policy reform, we commit to the hard work of implementation and evaluation. We also commit to engaging obstacles directly — fragmented data systems, misaligned financing, professional siloing, and gaps in provider training and practice — rather than working around them.
People and Communities Are Partners, Not Recipients.
People most affected by fragmented care must be at the center of how we design, implement, and evaluate solutions. We commit to shared decision-making, community-centered planning, and communication that is accessible and honest — recognizing that lived experience is both evidence and a prerequisite for equity.
Collaboration Requires Sustained Investment and Networking.
Genuine partnership demands more than goodwill. We commit to investing in the infrastructure, relationships, and shared accountability that make sustained collaboration possible — recognizing that how we work together is as important as what we set out to achieve.
What will it take for oral health to be inseparable from whole-person health in policy, practice, education, and financing?
With these commitments as the foundation, participants gather to put them into practice — bringing stories, listening across sectors, and leaving with a concrete commitment tied to action, partnership, and timeline.
Come ready to share, listen and commit.
Come ready to share
Your experience and expertise are the primary content of this convening. You will be asked to contribute stories, perspectives, and commitments — not just listen.
Come ready to listen across sectors
The participants in this room represent health care, public health, education, technology, policy, community and patient advocacy, and more. Some of the most valuable insights will come from sectors you may rarely work alongside.
Come ready to commit
By the end of Day 3, every participant will be asked to complete a Commitment Card: an action in their area of interest and expertise including the role they or an organization can play in both the short term (6-18 months) and beyond. This is not a pledge of general support. It is a concrete step toward a different system.
A deliberate progression from stories to commitments.
Each phase asks something different of the room. Together, participants move from surfacing what already works to naming concrete action with partners and timelines.
What is already working?
We begin by surfacing what exists — the innovations, partnerships, and breakthroughs already underway across sectors. Participants will share stories from their own experience, hear from peers, and start to see the outlines of a system that is already changing, in pockets, across the country.
What could full integration look like?
With a shared foundation in place, we shift from what is to what could be. Together, we identify the opportunities with the most momentum — where energy, evidence, and readiness converge — and begin to envision what whole-person health looks like when it works at scale.
What will we build, and with whom?
Vision becomes structure. Together we examine real-world prototypes of integrated care, select the ones most relevant to our respective sectors, and work in cross-sector teams to develop specific plans for action — including who will do what, what resources are needed, and what the first steps look like.
What will you commit to, by when, and with whom?
The final phase is personal. Each of us will be asked to make a personal commitment — a named action, with a named partner and a timeline. This is not symbolic. It is how a room of leaders becomes a working network of leaders.
The “Living Wall” makes the room visible to itself.
A collaborative, visual display captures the collective voice of the room as it evolves — from initial reflections on Day 1, to shared stories on Day 2, to signed commitments on Day 3. On the final morning, the full arc is read aloud. It is the moment the room sees itself as a network.
