The CDC’s oral health department was essentially shut down as part of the HHS Department’s layoffs that began April 1, STAT reported.
HHS employees began receiving dismissal notices yesterday as part of the agency’s plan to reduce the number of full-time employees from 82,000 to 62,000.
Plans outlined in a March 27 HHS fact sheet state that these reductions include consolidating 28 departments down to 15 and centralizing other functions.
The HHS Department said it intends to decrease the CDC workforce by approximately 2,400 employees and return the organization to its core mission of responding to epidemics and outbreaks.
A CDC employee reportedly told STAT that virtually every employee had been eliminated from the organization’s oral health division.
The American Dental Association said these reductions undermine national health priorities in an April 1 news release. The organization urged HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump to immediately reverse the cuts.
“I am disappointed with the Department of Government Efficiency’s targeting of oral health workforce reductions,” ADA President Brett Kessler, DDS, said. “Blunt actions like this do not make Americans healthy. They make us sick. The mouth is the gateway to the body. When the mouth is healthier, the body is too.”
The HHS Department said no additional cuts are currently planned, but it will continue to look for additional ways to streamline its operations.
