Dr. Suzanne C. Boulter was honored at the annual American Academy of Pediatrics meeting with the Oral Health Service Award given by the Section on Pediatric Dentistry and Oral Health. It “recognizes an individual who, during the course of their career, has made significant contributions to the advancement of pediatric oral health through their activities within the American Academy of Pediatrics.”
Dr. Boulter chairs the AAP Oral Health Initiative, and is also chair of the Section on Pediatric Dentistry and Oral Health. She has been an AAP chapter president, and was named Pediatrician of the Year for New Hampshire in 1999. She has won many local and regional awards and several national awards, including the Founders of Adolescent Health Award from the AAP Section on Adolescent Health and the Local Heroes Award from the AAP Council on Community Pediatrics.
Dr. Martha Ann Keels, a board-certified pediatric dentist who is also associate professor of pediatrics and surgery at Duke University, said in an interview, “Dr. Boulter is well deserving of the AAP Oral Health Service Award as she has been the pioneering role model for pediatricians across the country, being one of the first pediatricians in the United States to provide her patients oral health screening, caries risk assessment, and fluoride varnish treatments. She has worked tirelessly, leading the national Oral Health Initiative efforts of the AAP, including one of the most successful PEDS 21 lecture series. There are more children in America growing healthy smiles thanks to her!”
Dr. Boulter said in an interview, “Pediatricians and other health care providers for children are being encouraged to 'sink their teeth' into oral health risk assessment, fluoride varnish application, oral hygiene promotion, and referral to establish a dental home to combat the most prevalent infectious disease of childhood – early childhood caries.”
Dr. Boulter