R-2404-21286

The Missouri Office of Dental Health (MODH) oversees the state’s Oral Health State Plan. A goal of this plan is to “Support and enhance access to preventive oral health services.” MODH achieves this through collaboration with partners such as coalitions, federally qualified health centers, safety-net clinics, and charitable clinics to promote oral health services for everyone, but targeting the underserved population, like veterans.

MODH currently has funding for this evaluation work through the Missouri Foundation for Health, but funding ends in September 2024, leaving a gap for completing evaluation of the program. New this year, MODH is working to incorporate a diabetes risk assessment survey as part of patient intake in the clinic.

MODH anticipates using evaluation findings to encourage other entities to enhance dental services for veterans and to encourage new dentists to provide services for this population. Evaluation includes collecting data through a survey of the veterans receiving care and the dental students providing care. MODH will also collect data on services provided to veterans, their cost, and any cost-savings. As part of reporting, MODH will develop a dashboard showing numbers of veterans receiving dental care, services provided, and cost associated with care received. The dashboard will also include a satisfaction score from the students and veterans participating in Smiles for Vets program and testimonial from the clinical manager. A one-page infographic will be used for educational purposes. Additionally, MODH will collaborate with partners to create a veterans’ webpage which will house a video about oral health disparities for veterans and impacts of A.T. Still University’s dental clinic. This video will be part of MODH’s Show Me Video Series.

The goal is to create an environment to improve veteran’s oral health outcomes and share learnings with other dental schools and any other network interested in veteran oral health.

MODH is requesting $125,000 for this work, which is less than 1% of the organization’s overall budget. About $86,000 will go toward staff, nearly $23,000 toward travel, conference fees, webinars, and an evaluation report, while the remainder will help with indirect funds.

This proposal is one of ten selected finalists for the Expanding Access and Equity for Veterans Oral Health RFP.