In the News

Medical-dental integration is a critical component designed to enhance and broaden the oral health care delivery model. MORE Care® is a framework for communities to leverage their resources and relationships by providing tools and resources to integrate preventive oral health services into primary care settings. This report will show how local stakeholders advocated for an innovative approach to improve oral health gaps for children in Ohio.

On this episode of the ADHA Podcast host Matt Crespin sits down with Lisa Heaton, PhD, author of a recently published report from the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health on the tremendous amount of lost productivity as a result of dental issues. Dr. Heaton shares some of the eye-opening findings from this study as well as mitigation opportunities for reducing the devastating economic burden of neglected oral health.

The CareQuest Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on equitable care, reports millions of Americans lost their dental insurance from Medicaid last fall, adding to the more than 68 million adults who don't have dental insurance.

Integration between the medical and dental fields is still in the early stages, but these four leaders are looking to keep the momentum going. Here, four leaders of the dental industry share why they believe medical-dental integration is important and how the integration could be accelerated.

In a report released earlier this year, researchers from the American Institute of Dental Public Health and CareQuest Institute found higher rates of dental problems among veterans than their civilian peers, including issues with tooth decay (56% among veterans versus 37% in the general population) and gum disease (42% versus 27%).

Dr. Minter-Jordan is an internal medicine physician and the president and CEO of the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. Dr. Simon is an associate physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a fellow in oral health and medicine integration at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Boston. Both doctors recently spoke with Becker's about their Senate committee testimonies, the consequences of dental care inequities and the importance of medical-dental integration.

Dr. Minter-Jordan recently spoke with Becker's about what medical-dental integration efforts can learn from the behavioral health field and the factors that will support medical-dental integration in the future.

Myechia Minter-Jordan, MD, and Lisa Simon, MD, DMD, recently joined two dentists to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions about how to improve dental care affordability and accessibility.

Good oral health is crucial for overall well-being, yet access to high-quality care remains a persistent challenge for many Virginians. Virginia's Medicaid program offers comprehensive dental coverage to all members, for example, but slightly more than half of enrolled children saw a dentist last year — and even fewer adults received care. Access issues are multifaceted, with those most in need often facing barriers such as lack of transportation, limited translation resources, and the inability to take time off work for appointments. There’s one pervasive challenge that connects to all of these issues, an issue we’re taking direct aim at in 2024: Virginia's oral health workforce is in crisis.

Research from CareQuest Institute for Oral Health also reveals that individuals with disabilities are more frequently denied care due to discrimination and are more likely to have to visit the emergency department for dental care.