The Wooden Teeth Show

The rise in overdoses, crime and homelessness is posing a political challenge to continued movement away from the war on drugs and toward a public health approach. Jake speaks with Kassandra Frederique and Terrance Carroll about both the politics and the reality of what's happening on the ground on this issue. Kassandra leads the Drug Policy Alliance, a national nonprofit that works to end the war...

Jake speaks with investigative journalist Susan Greene of Colorado News Collaborative, who recently published a piece that reports on troubling financial arrangements, lax oversight and systemic failures that leave Coloradans without needed mental health care. The piece is the first in an ongoing series of reports, called "On Edge," that examines the state's mental health system

Jake speaks with journalist and bestselling author David Sirota about his new podcast, "Meltdown," available on Audible. The eight-part series identifies the anemic political response to the Great Recession as a primary driver of troubling political trends we're experiencing today, including the rise of white nationalism and the assault on democracy. They also discuss "Don't Look Up," a new movie...

Jake speaks with Brian Castrucci, CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, who has produced a new book, "Public Health Under Siege: Improving Policy in Turbulent Times." They discuss the state of the public health workforce, readiness for future pandemic response, and the prospects for public health political advocacy. Find out more about the book here: https://debeaumont.org/books/public-health-under-s...

In search of fresh ideas to improve public policy for the sake of public health and equity, Jake asks four colleagues to come on the pod and pitch a policy idea that has caught their attention. They cover territory ranging from what we put in our bodies, to where we live, to how we get money.

Jake speaks with Lishaun Francis of Children Now. They discuss the nature of the crisis of suicide, anxiety, depression and substance use facing kids today, and what we can do about it on a policy level as we exit the pandemic. Children Now is an organization that advances public policy to support the physical and mental health of kids, especially children of color.

While COVID-19 vaccine distribution has been ahead of schedule in its early phases, polling shows that convincing those who remain unvaccinated will be difficult. Jake speaks with Dr. Jennifer Reich about how we address vaccine hesitancy to reach herd immunity on COVID-19. Dr. Reich is the author of Calling the Shots: Why Parents Reject Vaccines, and a professor of sociology at the University of C...

Jake speaks with Sabrina Pacha of Healthy Air and Water Colorado, where they discuss the health effects of using gas in homes and how the gas industry is pushing back against converting homes to electric, including by using Instagram influencers. Then Jake speaks with Vijay Limaye, an epidemiologist with NRDC, about how we quantify and communicate the health impact of climate change and what we ca...

Native American communities are being devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the toll isn’t just on health, but also on culture, as language, customs and oral history is perishing along with Native elders. Jake speaks with New York Times journalist Jack Healy about his reporting on this impact and what Natives are doing to counteract it.

Jake speaks with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed about how Abdul's public health training informs his political instincts, the status of the public health workforce, and his insights on why President Trump won in 2016, but lost in 2020. They also dabble in actors with Egyptian roots, Ann Arbor deli talk, and a little sports. Abdul is a CNN political contributor, podcaster, and author. He was formerly the Execu...

Jake speaks with Dan Gibbs, who is a wildland firefighter and Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Dan was deployed this year to fight what were the largest forest fires in the state's history, which was part of a swell of fires this year out West that consumed an area larger than the state of Maryland. Dan offers both a ground-level and a policy perspective on how t...

Jake speaks with Dr. Ashwin Vasan, a physician and epidemiologist who is also the President & CEO of Fountain House, an organization with international reach that supports people with mental illness. In the conversation, Jake mines Dr. Vasan’s public health expertise in exploring our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including what steps Vice President Joe Biden should take to advance public...

While our air quality overall has improved in the last 50 years, air pollution today still causes about 100,000 premature deaths annually in America. It costs us all about $886 billion per year. The air emissions from our fossil fuel economy not only accelerates climate change, but also poses a health risk right now in communities across the U.S. as harmful substances, like Benzene, are still emit...

Altria recently introduced "Heat not burn" tobacco products in Atlanta, their first U.S. test market. This is the latest ploy big tobacco is using to hook people on nicotine. It’s so new it makes vaping seem like a thing of the past. These products come to the U.S. all the way from Japan, where they've become very popular. In this episode, you’ll hear an interview conducted in Tokyo, where Dr. Rei...

Justin took the stage at a recent rural philanthropy event and, for the first time in his life, publicly shared his story about coming out as a gay man. However, his microphone got cut off.  In this episode, we talk with him about what happened that day, as well as his personal experience with so-called "gay conversion therapy." We also speak about his work at the University of New Mexico's Center...

In this episode, Jake speaks with award-winning Vox journalist Liz Plank about her new book, "For the Love of Men: A New Vision for Mindful Masculinity." We explore the negative health impact of toxic masculinity or, as Liz calls it, "idealized masculinity", and its role in fueling gun violence, domestic abuse, suicide and more. And finally, we discuss societal solutions to address these public he...

This week, we’re taking a look back at one of our favorite episodes from the season: our trip to SXSW’s Wellness Expo, where we interviewed visitors and vendors about their thoughts on what it means to be “healthy”. Now, a few months after our initial trip, the Wooden Teeth staff takes time to reflect on the conversations we had at SXSW, and talk about what the different booths at the event have t...

In this episode, we are looking back at some of our favorite interviews from this season about books—books that inspire, that force us to reevaluate our preconceived notions, and that illuminate something within ourselves. We’ll show you some highlights from our conversations with three different authors about their work: Marion Nestle, author of Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science...

In this episode, Jake speaks with Richard Wilkinson, co-author, along with Kate Pickett, of a new book titled "The Inner Level: How More Equal Societies Reduce Stress, Restore Sanity and Improve Everyone's Well-Being". This book examines how economic policy influences a myriad of health issues—such as the fact, for instance, that mental illness is three times as common in the United States as it i...

A public health insurance failed to make it into the Affordable Care Act, but now states are creating their own version of the public option. Colorado has adopted legislation that initiates the implementation of a public health insurance option for residents, and we get the inside story of the bill and how it passed from Susanna Mizer, Healthier Colorado's Senior Director of Public Affairs. To put...

On today’s episode, we speak with political consultants Jayson Sime and Kate Duch of One Minus Beta about the process and politics of the 2020 process to produce a Democratic nominee for President. How are the rules different this year? How will a large field of candidates change the race? Which lesser-known candidate has a chance to breakthrough? Those are all questions we tackle. We also talk ab...

This week, our host Jake Williams chatted with Edwin Ng of the University of Waterloo and Carles Muntaner of the University of Toronto. They examined the effect of female representation in government on population health. Turns out, female representation and feminism generally are good for your health. And we couldn’t have a podcast about women with only men so two ladies of the Wooden Teeth team...

A low-income resident of New York City or San Jose, CA lives about 5 years longer on average than a low-income resident of Detroit or Indianapolis. The evidence suggests that this is due, at least in part, to the difference in social, economic and public health resources offered to residents via public policy. Today on the podcast we have the president of CityHealth, Shelley Hearne. CityHealth, an...

This week: We learn that there’s an exercise Jake can’t do, find out why a gym company has a government affairs director, and learn about “unholy alliances” of less-than-savory businesses and government health agencies. We’re joined by Russ Greene, who heads up government relations for CrossFit, which now has more than 15,000 affiliate gyms around the country and we find out what it means to be a...

Every 10 years, based on the data provided by the U.S. Census, states redraw the country's congressional and state legislative districts. It’s an intense and often contentious political process that shapes representation for the decade to follow. The rules about how redistricting works, specifically about whether districts can be drawn to expressly favor one party over another, are being considere...