A Quality Improvement Director Goes to the Forum...

This week, staff from DentaQuest’s Institute attended the 2017 Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Forum. During this multi-day conference, healthcare professionals from around the globe meet in Orlando to talk healthcare improvement. While oral healthcare is not a prominent discussion topic, DentaQuest has been attending since 2011. 

At Monday's pre-conference Scientific Symposium, Dr. Natalia Chalmers and Quality Improvement Project Manager Carrie Peltier presented a poster on our Dental Caries Management (DCM) Collaborative results (pictured left). Over 200 posters were submitted for consideration; the Institute’s poster was one of 70 - and the only one on oral health - chosen. Dr. Chalmers commented that the buzz about the importance of good oral health being vital to overall health was inspiring. Many wanted to learn more about the DentaQuest approach.

The general session featured a series of keynotes and 200+ workshops topics covering improvement science, joy in work, leadership, population health, person-centered care, safety, moving from volume to value to name a few. 

This year’s Forum opened from the lens of patient experience. The keynotes challenged care teams to create a bidirectional transfer of knowledge between patient and care team; this is, in fact, an act of caring. Care teams must work to create this space. It truly matters. Keynote Tiffany Christensen commented: we must ask generous questions to know and learn what matters to our patients. Our job is to make sure there is equity. These sentiments very much resonate with the Institute.

Later in the afternoon, we heard from Bryan Stevenson, a social justice advocate. Mr. Stevenson powerfully reminded us that it is our duty to create healthier communities. We must get closer to the poor and to communities that have been marginalized, neglected, and isolated. There is power in proximity. We also need to change the narrative that defines the difference of race. We must stay hopeful, as our hope has to fuel our practice. And lastly, we need to do the things that are uncomfortable. We have to make the choice to do the difficult thing.

General Stanley McChrystal shared his Team of Teams vision. He spoke about organizational change; being at an inflexion point and ready. He talked about ‘shared consciousness,’ meaning to connect on something with purpose and time and focus. “Together we need to project 'this place' where we want to go and make it to fruition.” This requires leadership that composes self-awareness, discipline, decision making, effective communication, connection, constant learning and functional excellence.

Lastly, as is IHI tradition, we heard from Dr. Don Berwick, president emeritus and senior fellow at IHI. Dr. Berwick’s spot-on remarks and reflections on the American healthcare system ring true year after year, and this year was no different. He shared a moving personal story of needing - and using - the healthcare system for his own family. He charged organizations to “snuggle,” meaning outline a clear and common purpose, be all together, or none at all and provide a safe vessel – failures are instructive; it’s OK to try, there can be shared honor, and we must have affection and mutuality. As this culture is what saved his brother.

Healthcare is complex; like the organizations who provide care and coverage. Inter-organizational competition is not the answer; coordination is. And DentaQuest is no different. Leaving this year’s Forum, I couldn’t help but board my plane back to Boston with some puffed feathers … DentaQuest has these pieces. We are prime to be the ‘Leading Voice.’ Improvement work is a social thing. It asks us to reflect, to adjust, to learn from, and to collaborate. It demands that we ask is what we are doing better or more of the same? We want better; we want to improve the oral health for all. That means understanding the system, at the macro, meso and micro levels. All together, or none at all. We must always ask “what do we want to learn over time?” and chart that course.

Cheers to another amazing Forum. Kaiser Permanente sent over 400 staff this year. Won’t you consider joining us next December in Orlando? This stuff matters!

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Cindy Hannon, MSW

Quality Improvement Director 

DentaQuest Institute  

"When you believe in this stuff, it is easy to write!"

Q&A: Dental Hygienist Opens Up for National Dental Hygiene Month

As October comes to an end, so does the national observance recognizing the need and importance of dental hygiene. For this Q&A, one of our own registered dental hygienists (RDHs) opens up about how she came to this career path and why it is invaluable to the oral health care system.

Let's dig in with Laura Skaret, RDH, BSDH | Project Manager, Safety Net Solutions | DentaQuest Institute

Q: Why did you decide to become an RDH?

A: My mom is a dental hygienist, and I got my first job at her office as a dental receptionist and then later was trained on the job to work as a dental assistant. I loved my experience as an assistant and found the work we did fascinating – including the devastating results of dental disease. I saw the cycle of dental disease first hand:  teeth would need small restorations, then larger restorations, then root canals, then crowns, and even sometimes implants. I knew I wanted to focus my career on helping patients prevent and properly manage dental disease rather than repairing the damage after it occurs.

We had a pamphlet in the office that said that enamel was far more valuable than gold (referring to a gold crown).  I found that to be such a thought-provoking and accurate concept.  It’s also similar to the old familiar adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  That couldn’t be more true in the dental field.

Q: Why are hygienists important in the care team? 

A: Dental hygienists are patient advocates. When explaining the dental disease process to patients, I always tell them that my job is essentially to keep them out of the dentist’s chair, but I can only do so much without their buy-in.  Due to the nature of plaque biofilm, the daily care that patients do for their own mouths is far more important than the work that we do in one hour with them at the dental office. Patients go to the dental office maybe two to four times per year, however 365 days a year they are responsible for managing their own oral health.  This means our most important role is to educate and motivate our patients to improve their daily oral health habits. 

Q: What has been your greatest accomplishment or most proud moment in relation to working as an RDH?

A: I’ve realized that it’s not only what you do, but the way that you do it that can make an impact.  I always try to be very kind and compassionate to the questions and concerns of my patients. I’ve had several patients who were terrified of coming to the dental office when I first met them. Years of neglecting their mouths and avoiding the dentist would bring them to our office in a lot of pain and in need of quite a bit of dental work. In addition to using a gentle technique and local and topical anesthetics, I try to help them feel more comfortable by talking them through everything I’m doing or telling them stories to get their mind off of the situation. Sometimes it’s helpful to listen to their story to find out why they have a fear, affirm their past concern, and then assure them that won’t happen today. 

When those patients then continue to come in regularly, you know you’ve not only made a difference for their oral cavity, but for their life as well.  I had one patient who needed lengthy measures to address advanced decay and periodontal (gum) disease.  After we completed her first three visits of needed periodontal therapy, she actually sent a card to my office to thank me for helping her overcome her fear of the dentist.  With a more manageable level of fear, she was able to get the care she needed to restore her smile, which gave her back her confidence.

Q: How does your professional background impact/influence/help you in your DentaQuest Institute (DQI) role?

A: My primary role at DQI is as a project manager for Safety Net Solutions (SNS), a DentaQuest Institute program. Safety Net Solutions helps safety net dental clinics adopt targeted business management best practices.  Our focus is to ensure that these dental offices can maintain financial viability to stay open and provide access to care for the underserved. We also help ensure that they understand their capacity and can maximize access to care by optimizing their productivity.  

My previous experience of working in all areas of the dental office (receptionist, chairside with the dentist, and then also as a hygienist) means I have very comprehensive knowledge of how dental offices work, from scheduling appointments, to managing supplies and inventory, to managing the patient’s care experience, to dealing with dental equipment and instrument shortages. Basically, I can understand and relate to almost any concerns our SNS clients have.

Q: Why do you continue private practice once a week? 

A: Although you can technically keep your annual dental hygiene license “active” by simply paying the license fee each year, I want to keep it active with actual patient care, as well. Also I continue to practice because I love the work!  I love working with patients and helping them improve their oral health. I also believe this helps me stay relevant and engaged with my SNS clients and their common concerns. 

Q: What is one message you hope to impart to anyone interested in becoming an RDH?

A: Hygienists are super important members of the care team! As policy changes and we move forward with accountable care organizations and pay for performance insurance reimbursement models, I think the role dental hygienists play in preventing and managing disease will be brought even more into the forefront. When finances are attached to healthy patient outcomes, dental care teams will attach an even higher value to dental hygienists. 

Also, there is a massive shortage of dental professionals – and dentists in particular – nationwide. Maximizing the use of preventive modalities such as sealants, fluoride varnish, and silver diamine fluoride will help address access gaps where dentists are hard to come by, like rural areas.  Of course, we will never stop needing the education and skills of a dentist, but if we can reduce the demand for the skills of a dentist by reducing the dental disease burden, we can help minimize the gap in access to oral health care.  

Interested in learning more about prevention-focused dental care? Check out the DentaQuest Institute's Online Learning Center and let us know what you think! 

DentaQuest Institute Releases New Report on Interprofessional Care in Rural Communities

New white paper delves into the role of interprofessional networks to coordinate person-centered care and improve oral health

DentaQuest Institute, in collaboration with the South Carolina Office of Rural Health, the Medical University of South Carolina, the Colorado Rural Health Center, and the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health, just released a new white paper , MORE Care: Narrowing the Rural Interprofessional Oral Health Care Gap. The report highlights the importance of interprofessional oral health networks in achieving person-centered care and population health improvement. By producing coordinated care pathways between dental medicine and primary and behavioral health, interprofessional oral health networks have the potential to improve patient outcomes, increase patient and provider satisfaction, and reduce the cost of providing and receiving care.

The report is the result of two years of collective findings from the Medical Oral Expanded Care (MORE Care) Initiative involving twenty-one Rural Health Clinics and fifteen rural dental care partners located in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. MORE Care partners provide insight into the main factors affecting the initiation of interprofessional oral health practice observed during the early phases of MORE Care.

The white paper, and a soon-to-be-released implementation guide, offer insight into the needs of Rural Health Clinics and rural dental care teams as they undertook the creation of interprofessional oral health networks (IPOHNs). In addition to creating interprofessional oral health networks, the purpose of MORE Care is to serve as a vehicle for adopting system change in the rural communities.

For more information on how dental programs serving rural communities can leverage MORE Care, contact Rebekah Mathews, director of transformation at rebekah.mathews@improvingoralhealth.com.

Why are dentistry and oral health care practices seemingly easy to question?

The topic of evidence in dentistry and oral health care has been in the news a lot recently, with articles like this column in the New York Times by a professor of pediatrics.

In his column, Aaron Carroll discusses the differences he sees between his own and his wife’s dental journeys, as well as what little rigorous research has been done to support certain generally recommended dental practices.

What is interesting is that articles like this one and the popular flossing article from the Associated Press, among others, imply that recommendations made by dentists are based solely on limited or weak evidence – or worse, based simply on what the dentist will get paid for by an insurance company.

They also leave readers feeling that plaque removal and cavity prevention/treatment are the only elements necessary to address for good oral health.

Ultimately, Carroll suggests in his column that while lack of evidence doesn’t mean oral health prevention efforts don’t work, we should invest in research to ensure that those things we do are evidence-based.

For those of us in the business of improving oral health, we couldn’t agree more with that conclusion. But let’s take a closer look at some of the points that may have gone overlooked by recent press coverage.

We know that evidence something works for populations doesn’t directly translate into solutions for a specific individual – that is in fact why Carroll and his wife have such dramatically different dental journeys.

Carroll notes he has had just one filling in his life and doesn’t religiously care for his mouth, while his wife has “more fillings than [he] can count” but is fastidious in her oral care routines.

This underscores two important points:

1. Every person is different. Individualizing care is critical to improved oral health.

While evidence-based research informs standards of care, it is the dental team that must develop the best care plan for any given person’s situation. That is why DentaQuest invests in the development and adoption of evidence-based care protocols that focus on prevention, early intervention and disease management.

Our investments in disease management and risk assessment help provide dental teams with the knowledge and tools they need to best serve their patients.

For instance, across a five-year period, the DentaQuest Oral HealthCenter demonstrated that risk assessment and intense preventive efforts (including sealants and fluoride varnish) directly resulted in a reduction in the need for invasive surgical procedures.

Sealants are one of the most cost-effective strategies for protecting teeth, as noted in another recent New York Times column. This is because they provide a physical barrier against cavities. They can even be applied to teeth that are just starting to show signs of new cavities, and stop them from getting bigger.

The best time to seal a tooth is immediately after it erupts in the mouth, and so the DentaQuest Oral Health Center strives to set aside extra time at visits for children ages 6 and 11 since the permanent molars are usually erupting at that time. It is also why the DentaQuest Foundation collaborates so closely with school-based health alliances working to improve access to oral health care – and sealants – among children in grade school.

Additionally, with a patient population of over 10,000, the DentaQuest Oral Health Center works in collaboration with the DentaQuest Institute to refine strategies that make patients healthier. And when these best practices are implemented, they actively improve peoples’ health.

2. Prevention and oral health improvement do not take place solely in the dental chair.

Preventive dental visits provide an important opportunity for people to check in on their oral health habits and get evaluations for early signs of not just dental disease, but also chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension.

Most of us spend two hours a year in a dental office. And, if we are to reconsider the benefit of two annual preventive visits as Carroll suggests, some of us might end up spending even less time with a clinician. So what about the other 8,758 hours?

The differences in the oral health of Carroll and his wife are not because he brushes with an electric toothbrush every day or because she is doing something “wrong” in her routine. Oral health care is more than just brushing and flossing. In fact, it is about more than your teeth and gums.

To make an impact, we have to take a look at how we pay for oral health care, how our public policies enable it, and how our communities prioritize it, in addition to how we provide it.

Addressing just one of those will not improve oral health care on the larger scale or reduce health care costs, as Carroll aims to do with his recommendations. We know oral health care is indeed critical for overall health. This is why we at DentaQuest look far beyond the dental chair.

For example, as part of Oral Health 2020, the DentaQuest Foundation is investing in efforts to incorporate oral health into the primary education system. Oral health education, screenings, assisted referral, and delivery of preventive care through our schools provide equitable, reliable entry into long-term oral health care.

DentaQuest also champions efforts to include innovative financing models for dental in person-centered approaches to care enabled by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Over the last decade, we’ve seen significant movement to transform our health care system into one that improves quality, lowers costs, and makes people healthier. In fact, on the medical side the Triple Aim is starting to be supported by alternative payment and care delivery models that are person-centered and focus on prevention.

Why did that happen? Because experts and advocates knew there had to be a better way forward for a healthier America.

The same is true for oral health. We are beginning to see that it is possible to live in a world where optimal oral health is the expectation, not the exception. We must continue to invest the same transformative energy into improving the oral health of all because you cannot have optimal overall health without optimal oral health.

 

Dental Health Care Needs Quality Improvement Now

The message couldn’t be clearer: The time for the dental profession to jump on the health care quality improvement (QI) bandwagon is now.

In the past quarter-century, the United States has seen medical care improve and per capita health care costs go down thanks to QI standards adapted from other industries like manufacturing. But why has the dental profession been so slow to join the game? Our recent DentaQuest Institute editorial in the July/August 2016 issue of Pediatric Dentistry provides some clues.

In our editorial, we argue that, because of QI’s effectiveness—in medicine and other fields—it is 

“...imperative that dental professionals create the culture and systems necessary to apply QI principles and activities for the benefit for our patients, the public at large, and our profession.” 

That may be easier said than done, but our own Dr. Natalia Chalmers, who heads DentaQuest Institute’s Analytics and Publication team, and her colleagues lay out a number of programs that place a heavy emphasis on QI - from DentaQuest Institute’s EarlyChildhood Caries (ECC) program and the UCLA-First 5 LA Oral Health Program to new initiatives from the American Dental Association’s Dental Quality Alliance. 

The common thread with these programs: they all work.

• Through ECC Collaborative, an effort to reduce dental caries in young children, 32 federally-qualified health centers (FQHCs) significantly improved patient outcomes after implementing a disease-management approach to QI.
• The UCLA program helped 22 local FQHCs redesign workflows based on QI models, improving diagnostic, preventive and treatment services in participating dental clinics. With the “triple aim” of improving patient experiences, improving health status, and lowering costs, the ADA’s Dental Quality Alliance seeks to help dental practices establish processes “to reliably deliver evidence-based care to every patient.”

The authors note small steps may be all that’s needed to push the profession toward QI. For example, the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle results in a trial-and-error approach until performance improvements are realized. This practice has helped improve quality performance in industries from high-tech to higher education. There’s no reason dentistry can’t do the same.

They also understand that integrating QI into a dental practice requires considerable planning, coordination and commitment. And it takes a team for QI to take root. Dental practitioners, office staff and even patients must be invested in the process for it to work.

That said, dentists need to begin thinking now about QI at the practice level. These efforts will have an enormous impact on the way dental care is delivered. And, as the DentaQuest editorial illustrates, that’s a win-win for everyone.     

           

Oral Health Disparities between Men and Women

Did you know men are more likely to get oral cancer than women? Men are also more likely to skip dentist and doctor visits. For Men’s Health Month happening now, let’s raise awareness about these and other disparities.

Overall, more than 10 adults out of every 100,000 will develop oral cancer.

Oral cancer incidence among men is more than twice as high as among women in the United States. The same holds true when broken out by race for those who identified as white, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Asian or Pacific Islander.

However, prevalence among black men is more than three times as high as among black women. The disparity is similar among Hispanic men and women, too.

What’s more, oral cancer rates increase with age among both women and men. The increase becomes more rapid after age 50 and peaks between ages 60 and 70.

But diagnosing oral cancer at an early stage significantly increases five-year survival rates. Today, we are more aware of the importance of oral health and how to prevent disease thanks in large part to better education, greater access and advances in technology.

These factors have helped oral cancer survival rates steadily improve since 1975, though the disparity among white and black men has remained largely unchanged.

So what more can be done to reduce oral health disparities?

To start, efforts like those funded by the DentaQuest Foundation are designed to target prevention and collaboration in hyper-local ways.

One investment supports the Chicago Community Oral Health Forum to develop and expand school-based oral health education to students in the Chicago Public School system and the development of dental homes for students with urgent needs.

Another investment is supporting the University of Alabama as it implements a framework for interprofessional training that will produce health care practitioners in Alabama with a greater understanding of oral health and the ability to work in health teams to provide optimal care to their patients – from geriatrics to pediatrics.

These types of programs happening across the country target long-term improvements and sustainable changes for a variety of communities – from predominantly black public schools in Chicago to the elderly in Alabama.

The DentaQuest Institute, meanwhile, is expanding oral health care to rural parts of the country. Experts are working closely with local teams, helping providers develop evidence-based and financially-sound practices that ensure a continuum of care for regions that largely have been without regular access to dental care.

With dedication and support, these projects can ultimately change the trajectory of oral health disparities in America.

 

Let’s Focus on Quality, not Quantity

By Mark Doherty, DMD, Executive Director, DentaQuest Institute

It’s hard to miss the fact that our health care system is in the middle of a lot of change. I read about “pay for performance,” “accountable care organizations” and “value-based care” all the time. Oral health is not usually part of the discussion but that won’t be for long. The growing cost of care, the variation in treatments and care outcomes and the significant disparities faced by disadvantaged groups are important issues for dental care delivery too.

So I am very excited by the strong interest and motivation among my peers to find opportunities to focus on quality rather than quantity in America’s oral health care delivery system. I just returned from a meeting in Washington, D.C. with leaders in oral health and health care from across the care delivery spectrum (ADA, ADEA, CDHP, ADHA, CDC, HRSA, IHI, CMS, dental educators, providers, hospitals, health policy experts, insurers and more) where quality improvement and accountability were the central topics. Folks left the meeting ready to take part in this Quality Journey.

The impetus for the meeting was a new report (just released), edited by Paul Glassman DDS, MA, MBA, professor of dental practice and director of the Pacific Center for Special Care at the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry. The report, Oral Health Quality Improvement in the Era of Accountability, is a call for a new dialogue on how to improve quality and increase access to affordable dental care.

Until now, the limited evidence of best practice for most dental procedures has led to widespread variation in clinical decisions among dentists; [Read the blog post, To Fill or Not to Fill by my colleague Dr. Doyle Williams to understand the variability in treatment approaches.] And today, there are few incentives to implement quality improvement programs.

But we need to. Dental expenses are now one of the highest out-of-pocket health costs for consumers. And 37 percent of African American children and 41 percent of Hispanic children have untreated tooth decay, compared to 25 percent of white children. The disparity is unacceptable.

Take a close look at the ideas in this report. We need to look at the opportunities to do better.

At the DentaQuest Institute, we’re emphasizing prevention and disease management in our quality improvement initiatives. The good news is that this approach works. When we apply a disease management model to the care of a chronic disease like Early Childhood Caries (ECC), we are seeing longer-term improvements in the patient’s oral health.

The DentaQuest Institute will post the presentations from the meeting in Washington on our website.

This is an exciting time for those of us who are passionate about better oral health for all.

Better Care for Today; a Better Healthcare System for Tomorrow

Guest blog post by Cindy Hannon, DentaQuest Institute Quality Improvement Manager

I just had an inspiring experience at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) 23rd Annual Forum. Over 6,000 participants (yes 6,000!) converged on Orlando, Florida to focus on quality in healthcare. Over the last year, I have been working with DentaQuest Institute partners on three Quality Improvement projects in dental care – Dental Sealants for Adolescents, Early Childhood Caries (ECC), and Elimination of Dental Disease.

I wanted to attend this year’s IHI Forum because the DentaQuest Institute is gearing up for an exciting 2012 with a strong focus on quality and a prevention-focused, disease management model of care. There is a lot to be learned from the work of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Its successes are lessons in the kind of change management that facilitates improvements within a care system. Time and again, people that I met in sessions and around the conference said they were so happy to have people involved in dentistry at the quality table.

Maureen Bisognano, President and CEO of IHI started the two-day forum reminding us of our purpose -- we are capable of “making better care for today and a better healthcare system for tomorrow.”

With Quality Improvement, we are “acting for the individual but learning for the population.” Stories of patients and their families are important tools: “Stories,” Maureen reminded us “are first personal, then they become public, and then collective, and lastly, they become political.” There is a connecting thread: we help the individual and what we learn supports improvement for others. A compelling patient story helps grab attention today and builds the will for change. Our patient encounters help us understand the situation (patient, disease and environment) and devise better solutions. Data help us make the case to move change through the system. Quality improvement, at its core, is applying reliable new knowledge (science-based evidence) with a goal of better outcomes.

On the plane returning to Massachusetts, I sat in my seat tired but full of energy. Charlie Homer, MD, MPH, President of the National Initiative for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ) and a national leader in improving the quality of healthcare for children, was on the same flight. Jane Taylor, EdD, an Improvement Advisor for IHI, was also on the flight. I was just a few rows behind them. It occurred to me –dentistry may be behind medicine in this quality improvement work, but we are all on the same flight, headed for the same destination… better health outcomes. And, I am thinking about the stories we will have to tell.

Our Community Health Champion!

The Boston Business Journal honored Dr. Mark Doherty, Executive Director of the DentaQuest Institute as a 2011 Health Care Champion for his work in expanding the reach of oral health care throughout Massachusett at the 2011 Champions in Health Care breakfast on August 26th.

Dr. Doherty has dedicated his career to expanding access to oral health services for low-income, underinsured and uninsured individuals in Massachusetts and across the country. During a long and illustrious career, Dr. Mark Doherty has been more than a dentist. He has also played the role of businessman, problem solver, oral health advocate, and mentor to other dentists who share his passion for improving the lives of underserved individuals.

When Dr. Doherty speaks about oral health, everyone listens, including lawmakers on Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill and federal agencies overseeing community health centers across the United States. Today, Dr. Doherty is working to create partnerships with community health center dental programs and training volunteer dentists who will mentor and coach community health center dental practice staff as they implement improvements to their practices.

Among many honors, Dr. Doherty was selected the 2011 Best Practice Management Consultant by Dr. Bicuspid readers who are dental professionals.

Report from the Field: National Oral Health Conference, 2011

If you’re involved in public health dental care, are a health researcher, dental educator, legislator, public health official, Medicaid/CHIP dental program staff or consultant, or provide dental care at a community health center, chances are, you are in Pittsburgh, PA this week (April 11-13) at the National Oral Health Conference.

This is the 12th time the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD), the American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD) along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have brought the national public oral health community together to highlight the many areas where public health systems can converge toward achieving “optimal oral health” for America’s citizens. As a leader in the national conversation about improving oral health for Americans, DentaQuest is playing a visible role.

The ASTDD board invited the leadership of the DentaQuest institute and the DentaQuest Foundation to its annual Board meeting to update them on the significant investments we have planned for 2011.

In the 1st general session of the conference, Mark Doherty, DDM, MPH, Executive Director of the DentaQuest Institute, Ralph Fuccillo, President of the DentaQuest Foundation and Marcia Brand, PhD, the Deputy Administrator of HRSA, walked participants through “Strategies for Achieving and Maximizing Return on Investment in Oral Health.” ARRA and the Affordable Care Act have made significant investments in the health safety net. Oral health programs will benefit. With good planning, this once in a lifetime investment can lead to increased access, improved oral health outcomes, and financial sustainability and potential partnership with private foundations to extend the dollars available for oral health expansion. DentaQuest Institute Director of Practice Improvement, Dr. Jay Anderson is representing the Institute on an ASTDD- and ADA-sponsored panel discussion on working in community health centers. The American Association of Medical Colleges Advisory Group on Oral Health Curricula is discussing adoption of the Smiles for Life online oral health training for health care clinicians.

The DentaQuest Institute is featuring information on Safety Net Solutions technical assistance services throughout the conference at its booth.

The DentaQuest Foundation and Institute look forward to these national events for the opportunity they provide us to connect with dental public health leaders from across the United States. It makes us better at the work we do with our partners in supporting effective approaches to preventing and caring for oral disease.

Blog post by Dr. Michael Monopoli, Director Policy and Programs, DentaQuest Foundation and Brian Souza, Managing Director DentaQuest Foundation and DentaQuest Institute, reporting from NOHC.