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By Kelly Schroeder, RDH, MS, Health Science Specialist, CareQuest Institute for Oral Health  If you pull out your wallet, you’re likely to see a driver’s license. Perhaps you earned that license in Maine, Minnesota, or Montana. Or maybe it was in West Virginia or Wisconsin. Although your education and licensure took place in one of those states, you can legally operate a vehicle in all 50 states. As the driver, it is your responsibility to know and follow the traffic laws of the state in which you are driving, even when crossing state lines.

How is America’s oral health? It’s a challenging question, especially when you consider all the potential sources of information. Is the best answer based on behaviors and experiences in dental offices and communities across the country? Or is it better to look at knowledge, like how much a person understands about the connection between their oral health and overall health? Or perhaps perception would provide the best insight — the value of oral health in one’s life or confidence in a particular smile.

For Pareesa Charmchi Goodwin, hearing people’s stories, hearing how she can help, is a gift. “I am fortunate to have built relationships with community leaders and people we advocate for,” she says. “I am honored and humbled when people trust us with their stories and ask for advice on navigating the system. And unfortunately, there is no shortage of these stories.”

Over the course of the pandemic, health care providers have adapted to a new kind of workplace reality. For oral health care providers, that meant learning how to deliver dental care in the safest way possible, for both patients and staff.

Dr. Kelly Tanner knew from a young age she wanted to be a dental hygienist. Today, as the CEO of Next Level Dental Hygiene and Ascend Health Partners, she provides dental organizations and hygienists with support and educational tools to develop leadership skills and accelerate careers in oral health care.

By Myechia Minter-Jordan, MD, MBA, Senior Advisor and former President and CEO of CareQuest Institute for Oral HealthUncertainty. Anticipation. Fear.These are just a few of the emotions that run through the minds of almost every expecting parent. And for many expecting Black parents, those feelings are more acute.

Earlier this month, CareQuest Institute for Oral Health CEO and president Myechia Minter-Jordan, MD, MBA, presented an hour-long session at South by Southwest (SXSW) about the business case for investing in health equity — a topic that has increasingly become a priority across all industries, including health care.

One year ago today — March 29 — we officially launched CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. Building on the strengths of past organizations, including the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement, we are accelerating oral health care transformation and moving faster, together, toward a health system designed for everyone. What’s our “why?” What drives us?

Dr. Deborah George has worked at the Jessie Trice Community Health System, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Florida, for more than 25 years. In her roles as the executive president of community affairs and chief dental officer, she oversees the system’s oral health program while cultivating collaborative relationships with community stakeholders. Dr.

Care coordination involves ensuring that all providers caring for a patient have access to the same information and can communicate seamlessly with one another. That coordination is critical to providing the right care, in the right place, at the right time. That coordination is also difficult to achieve — especially in the oral health system.