Www.astdd.org



10 Reasons Why State Oral Health Programs Still are Important

Because of recent changes in national and state health policy (implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicaid expansion), the number of individuals with access to health and dental insurance may increase. Should more people have insurance, there likely will be an increase in the number of people who seek dental care. This raises the question, “Do states still need to invest in governmental State Oral Health Programs?” The resounding answer is “Yes!”

Many view public health as only providing clinical services to vulnerable, uninsured populations, but public health is broader and focuses on 10 Essential Public Health Services. State Oral Health Programs are the dental public health arm of state health agencies. Dental public health focuses on the prevention and control of oral diseases and injuries and the promotion of oral health through organized community efforts. This population-based approach is quite different from individual patient care.

1. State Oral Health Programs help connect uninsured populations with dental care providers through relationships with clinics, dental societies and other groups. This becomes even more important under the ACA, because families may move between public health systems and private insurance as their incomes change. In addition, since adult dental benefits are not required under the ACA or Medicaid expansion, and Medicare and state dental care financing systems typically provide limited or no adult dental benefits, there will still be many dentally uninsured adults and seniors who need assistance from State Oral Health Programs and their partners in finding care.

2. State Oral Health Programs educate the public about community water fluoridation, determined by expert panels to be an effective, evidence-based preventive public health approach and more cost effective than fluoride treatments in dental offices. Community water fluoridation reaches residents of all ages served by fluoridated water supplies, not just those who go to the dentist. State Oral Health Programs also collect and report on community water fluoridation quality and work with drinking water programs to ensure high quality systems.

3. State Oral Health Programs support school-based dental sealant programs and school-based fluoride varnish programs, which have been proven to be effective, evidence-based preventive public health approaches. Making these services available at schools saves parents and children unnecessary absences from work and school to receive care in dental offices. Also, some dental practices do not routinely provide dental sealants to children.

4. State Oral Health Programs conduct oral health surveillance, by collecting data to monitor the population’s oral health status and health behaviors through the Basic Screening Survey (BSS), Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS), the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), and other surveys. These data are used by state and local agencies to request funding and by advocates to implement policy changes to improve the oral health of underserved populations. Medicaid claims data and Head Start Program Information Report (PIR) data also do not provide information about oral health status (need) but only about care provided.

5. State Oral Health Programs address health inequity by designing, implementing and sharing evidence-based health communication and health promotion programs that use culturally, linguistically, and developmentally appropriate oral health activities and materials for diverse populations.

6. State Oral Health Programs coordinate with other state health agency programs such as Comprehensive Cancer Control, Diabetes, Tobacco Control, and HIV programs, as well as dental, dental hygiene, medical and nursing schools, and state and local professional associations such as state nursing, medical and pediatric associations to ensure that the relationships between chronic and infectious diseases and oral health are taken into consideration when providing care and planning programs.

7. State Oral Health Programs work with dental/dental hygiene schools and state and federal loan repayment programs to place dental professionals in communities or clinics, especially in rural areas, to care for underserved populations.

8. State Oral Health Programs play an important role in developing protocols and policies for handling health hazards that threaten individuals and communities.

9. State Oral Health Programs inform policy makers’ decisions based on scientific evidence on issues such as the scope of dental practice, mandated oral examinations prior to enrollment in school, oral injury prevention in sports, healthy food choices in schools, loan repayment programs, disaster preparedness, and infection prevention and control in dental settings.

10. State Oral Health Programs are a driving force in forging internal and external partnerships and ensuring that oral health is addressed when policies are being considered and programs are being planned. They promote policies based on accurate and current data. They serve as neutral facilitators to help partners focus on meeting the oral health needs of state populations.

Think about what you can do to support State Oral Health Programs and their missions in a time of health reform.

-----------------------

Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors

3858 Cashill Blvd, Reno NV 89509 • Phone: 775-626-5008 • Fax: 775-626-9268

Website:

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download