In 2022, Dr. Nový was contacted by the The Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD) to update their Best Practices Approach Report (BPAR) for early-childhood cavity management. The ASTDD works with public health professionals, tribal entities, and municipal organizations across the nation to improve oral health programs with up-to-date research. Their last BPAR was over a decade old, so they asked Dr. Nový, who is president of the National CAMBRA Coalition and the consumer representative to the United States Food & Drug Administration Dental Products Panel, to write an updated version.

Dr. Nový solicited me at the end of 2022 to turn his ideas for the BPAR into polished writing. I used notes from our phone conversations, internal sources he provided, and the structure of the 2011 BPAR to write initial drafts for sections of the report. The target audience involved doctors, health professionals, and volunteers with varying degrees of training. Over the next four months, I edited the writing Dr. Nový added to the drafts, incorporated feedback from the board, and guided the report’s development into the 15-page version that was finally sent across the country in October of 2023. This was my fifth project with Dr. Nový.