Oral Health 2020 is helping unify and empower community voices

Hear from so many passionate individuals who are part of the DentaQuest Foundation's Oral Health 2020 National Network, which is working to address oral health equity, policy, and ultimately improved oral health for all.

Learn more about the movement: http://dentaquestfoundation.org/oh2020

Proud to Reflect on DentaQuest Giving Back, Remain Committed for 2017

The start of a new year is an opportunity to reflect and consider how we fit into the community at large. Through our corporate giving program and the volunteered talents of our staff, we are investing in our neighborhoods, supporting our stakeholders, and creating leadership opportunities for our employees. Here are highlights from 2016 that will help us have even greater impact for 2017:

Community is the Foundation of What We Do

We awarded Corporate Giving funds to safety net dental programs and community organizations that help thousands of at-risk children, families, people with disabilities, and seniors. We were also involved with organizations working to feed the hungry, prepare the next generation workforce, end health disparities and inequity, and help neighbors who are struggling to get through each day.

In 2016, DentaQuest’s Giving Program touched 165 organizations in 26 states. And that is in addition to the millions of dollars in investments made by our DentaQuest Foundation and our DentaQuest Institute to community change makers who are working for better policies, financing, and care with a goal of improving the oral health of all. All this matters because oral health really is fundamental to living a healthy life and important to academic and economic success.

Missions of Mercy Dental Clinics

While our 24 million members have access to quality dental care, there are millions more who are uninsured or underinsured and fall through the cracks at the worst of times. Many of them depend on the arrival of the Mission of Mercy, a multi-day free clinic staffed by volunteers, for essential dental care services. Working with local dental societies and our local staff volunteers, DentaQuest supported 21 free care clinics in 18 states.

Consider that, on average, each Mission of Mercy clinic serves 1,500 to 2,000 patients; the dental clinics that we supported provided over $15,000,000 in services and helped nearly 30,000 individuals who have great needs and few other options.

Stand Together in Times of Crisis

Our employee-directed Corporate Giving Committee directed financial support to communities that suffered in 2016: areas recovering from Hurricane Matthew in Florida and South Carolina, the once-in-a-century floods in Louisiana, flooded areas of rural West Virginia, the destructive wildfires (and tornado) in Tennessee. Support was also sent to Orlando after it suffered a violent shooting and to a help those in need after a five-alarm fire in Cambridge, Mass.

Throughout the year, we provided toothbrushes to schools, after school programs, and community health fairs serving at-risk children in high need neighborhoods. And through our matched giving program, our employees made additional contributions to charities close to their hearts.

Sweat Equity 

For us, giving is a combination of equity and sweat. Our employees look forward to attending local events that support the community and are willing volunteers at health fairs, walks for a cause, and dental care clinics.

During our annual Mission Month (mid-September to mid-October), we roll up our sleeves and leave the office to conquer high-impact projects tailored to the need of the community. This year, it was to feed families at Ronald McDonald Houses, paint and update schools and community centers, remove invasive plants from local rivers, and reclaim and replant city gardens.

We participated in 35 events in 11 states. A remarkable 67 percent of our employees participated in a Mission Month project, contributing over 3,612 volunteer hours, valued at $93,912.

Some go even further. Our Living the Mission Awards honor employees who go above and beyond for their sustained volunteer contributions to a charitable organization outside of Mission Month or company-sponsored events. Congrats again to those awardees!

What's Next?

Looking back on what we’ve accomplished in 2016, it is with pride that we can say we live our mission every day.  We truly are the dental company with vision, and heart. Looking forward, we will aim higher, find ways to give more of ourselves to those around us, and ultimately stay true to our mission - improving the oral health of all.

Engaging Grassroots with Grassmiddles to Facilitate Changes in Oral Health Equity

Why should grassroots and grassmiddles engage for oral health care? “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – African proverb

It’s been a busy spring for our team as we just wrapped up six meetings in six states (in just three weeks!). During the months of April and May, DentaQuest Foundation convened partners in the six states of our Grassroots Engagement Initiative, which launched last year in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

The grassroots strategy aims to amplify the voice of those most impacted by oral health disparities –people who are living with tooth and mouth pain, limited access to dental services or affordable coverage, and other barriers to obtaining good oral health.

These meetings brought together those working at the state level (like oral health coalitions) – also known as the “grassmiddles” – with local-level community advocacy organizations – the “grassroots” groups.

DentaQuest Foundation’s grassmiddle partners have been working in oral health for many years and have a deep understanding of the policy environment in their states, often in addition to clinical knowledge or experience. Grassroots organizations, meanwhile, understand the needs of their communities and are experts at organizing and mobilizing community members to create change around issues like the environment, racial justice, jobs and more.

Why the Grassroots Engagement Initiative? Within it, these stakeholders learn from each other’s respective expertise. Together, they can take aligned action to improve oral health while also respecting and including the voices of those most impacted by oral health disparities.

These kinds of partnerships only serve to strengthen the effort of a larger national movement by getting everyone to agree on the priorities and join together where action is needed to improve oral health.

Illustrating the power of partnership

One of the Grassroots Engagement Initiative grantees in California is SCOPE (Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education) helped bring grassroots and grassmiddle partners to agreement on oral health change efforts.

SCOPE is a group that first emerged in the early ‘90s in the midst of the Los Angeles uprising following the Rodney King verdict. Staff from SCOPE facilitated what’s called “power mapping” at each of the six state meetings.

 “Power mapping” asks:

•  what are the major issues in a state (for example, in Arizona: lack of adult dental coverage in Medicaid, lack of access to quality oral health care in Native American and other poor communities, and a weak social safety net);
• who are the decision makers that could potentially influence those issues (for example, Governor Ducey and the Arizona legislature); and finally,
• who else might be potential allies or challengers.

Participants then map out where all of these factors and people stand on the issue. Finally, they strategize on what’s needed to shift these dynamics in a way that positively impacts oral health in the state. Ultimately, the resulting power map should be used to track progress by revisiting it periodically to see how opinions have shifted.

At each state meeting, SCOPE helped participants reach consensus on a draft power map to begin using and measuring against. The agreement resulted from peer-to-peer learning, as well as collaboration across grassmiddles and grassroots experience.

Why does this matter? How will oral health equity improve?

Power mapping can be an excellent complement to the state’s oral health plan, which is goal-oriented and shows where the state wants to go. In fact, the power map and community level actors can help inform how to get there – an element that is improved with grassroots and grassmiddles on the same page.

Ultimately, it’s crucial that efforts to create change are in line with one another when facing a problem as significant as poor oral health. These state meetings seek to encourage all of us to see ways in which we can work together, and bring our respective strengths to the table, as we work for a healthier America. 

Oral Health is Now a Leading Health Indicator

By Steve Pollock, President, DentaQuest

At the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association this week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced three new categories of Leading Health Indicators for the Healthy People 2020 campaign. The good news is oral health has been identified as a Leading Health Indicator category…finally.

Healthy People 2020 identified 17 oral health goals -- from reducing the rate of dental caries in the primary and permanent teeth of children and adolescents – to increasing the number of children, adolescents and adults who use the oral healthcare system.

HHS named Oral Health a Leading Health Indicator because it is a critical health issue that, if left unaddressed, could result in future public health problems. DentaQuest could not agree more.

Everything we do is focused on our singular mission to improve oral health. Our Preventistry^SM philosophy ensures a unique focus on prevention, disease management, quality care, and cost effective benefit program administration, and recognizes and supports the important provider-patient relationship in achieving good oral health. Our DentaQuest Institute isolates areas where we know there is a better way to prevent and manage oral disease, and works to make new and proven dental therapies routinely available in the dental office. Historically, new evidence-based care learnings take years to become accepted and practiced in the dental office setting, and the Institute is working to change that. Our DentaQuest Foundation is driving a grassroots movement across the nation to improve oral health with its Oral Health 2014 Initiative, awarding 20 state organizations funding and resources to reduce oral health disparities, one of the biggest cost drivers in the American health care system.

We are committed to our mission and intent on setting goals and measuring our success against them. We’re working on that. But with Healthy People 2020’s designation of oral health as a Leading Health Indicator, our ability to affect our mission takes a major step forward. With the endorsement of HHS and the power of Healthy People 2020 focused on oral health improvement, much will be done to prevent oral disease. Our population will be healthier and our state and national health care systems will see costs go down. Without good oral health, it’s impossible to enjoy good overall health.

Oral diseases are almost 100% preventable. With the right focus and resources, oral disease is one chronic health problem that we can target and eliminate – in our lifetime. I am convinced that with a coordinated system of collaboration and persistence, oral diseases can become a thing of the past.