In the News

Nationally, over 6 million adults lost their dental coverage in 2023 with Hispanic people being twice as likely to have lost dental insurance than white non-Hispanic individuals, according to a CareQuest Institute for Oral Health survey. Read the full story...

In the U.S., 92% of voters across the political spectrum support adding a dental benefit to Medicare, according to a report from the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health and the Oral Health Progress and Equity Network. Read the full story...

Kaz Rafia, DDS. Chief Health Equity Officer at CareQuest Institute for Oral Health (Boston). Dr. Rafia is the inaugural chief health equity officer at CareQuest, which he has successfully transitioned into a sustainable and impactful grantmaking institution. In his role, is particularly focused on increasing health equity, Medicare and...

Eighty-five percent of veterans are ineligible for dental coverage through the Veterans Affairs (VA), making lack of access to dental care a significant and devastatingly common issue for those who have served our country. Read the full story...

According to the CareQuest Institute, a nonprofit aiming to increase equity in dental care, 93% of people living in poverty need dental care they aren’t getting. For many, it’s simply too expensive. Read the full story...

Approximately 50% of all Medicare enrollees do not have dental coverage, and nearly 24 million individuals on Medicare have not visited a dentist within the last 12 months, according to a July 16 news release from CareQuest. Read the full story...

A new poll by CareQuest Institute and the Oral Health Progress and Equity Network (OPEN) reveals that, regardless of political orientation, 92% of voters nationwide are in favor of adding dental coverage to Medicare. Read the full story...

Some patients don't want to be bothered with health care screenings when they're at the dentist, but new data says that's far from the norm. These kinds of screenings are sorely needed to improve health outcomes in the United States. Oral health and heart health may seem unrelated, but recent data from CareQuest reveals those with periodontal...

Senator Bernie Sanders told USA TODAY that U.S. dental care is "in crisis" with far too many Americans shut out of the system. Nearly 69 million U.S. adults did not have dental insurance or access to routine oral health care last year, according to the nonprofit CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. Read the full story...

It's no secret that underserved communities score poorly on just about every measure of oral health. In steps Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, the head of the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, a Boston-based organization that aims to stem these inequities through a variety of grants and awards. Read the full story...

The report from CareQuest Institute1 highlights research that shows poor oral health—particularly periodontal disease—can increase the risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). The aggregated findings indicate that having an infection of periodontal bacteria, notably Porphyromonas gingivalis, may trigger...

It's no secret that underserved communities score poorly on just about every measure of oral health. In steps Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, the head of the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, a Boston-based organization that aims to stem these inequities through a variety of grants and awards. Read the full story...