Underrepresented Minority Dentists: Quantifying Their Numbers and Characterizing the Communities They Serve

Despite initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels, the underrepresentation of Blacks, Hispanic/Latinos (H/L), and American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) among dentists persists. Improving workforce diversity promotes social justice and also increases access, health equity, and health care quality, particularly for minority populations. This article quantifies the shortage of underrepresented minority (URM) dentists and their…

Survey of Federally Qualified Health Centers to Understand Participation with Dental Residency Programs and Student Externship Rotations

Demand for dental residency and dental student externship opportunities has grown in recent years, driven by the economy for dental employment and the desire of students for increased market competitiveness. In addition to specialty residencies, some states now also require that general dentists complete a year of advanced education in general dentistry before licensure. The…

The Roles and Value of Geriatricians in Health Care Teams: A Landscape Analysis

There are currently too few geriatricians to meet the needs of the geriatric patient population. Therefore, a better understanding of the current roles of geriatricians, how those roles are changing, and how they collaborate with other health professionals is needed. This report describes a literature review that makes up the first stage of a study…

The Impact of Federal and State Policy on Oral Health Care Delivery in Long-term Care Settings

Reforms to address the oral health care needs of vulnerable populations in long-term care (LTC) settings should start with defining a clearer standard of oral care required for this population. This will allow best practices in policy, practice, and accountability to be structured around care that improves patients’ oral health. This article identifies and classifies…

Geriatrician Roles and the Value of Geriatrics in an Evolving Healthcare System

There are insufficient numbers of practicing geriatricians to meet the current demand for their services, and the shortage is projected to worsen in the coming decades as the number of older Americans rapidly increases. Understanding how to best leverage geriatricians as members of an overall care team is critical. This report is the second component…

Authorization Status of Dental Therapists by State

Dental therapists (DTs) are primary dental care practitioners that have been deployed in many countries around the world. There is increasingly strong evidence supporting the safety and effectiveness of DTs, including their ability to promote community-based services and enhance oral health equity. Following the approval of education standards by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA)…

Implementing Care Coordination in a Large Dental Care Organization in the United States by Upskilling Front Office Personnel

Care coordination is a strategy used to improve health outcomes and efficiency, but has not been widely adopted in the dental field. To test out care coordination in the field, a large dental accountable care organization participated in a pilot project where they retrained existing administrative staff to coordinate the care of high-risk patients. Following…

Dental Therapists in the United States: Health Equity, Advancing

Dental therapists (DTs) are primary care dental providers, used globally, and were introduced in the United States (US) in 2005. DTs have now been adopted in 13 states and several Tribal nations. This article qualitatively examines the drivers and outcomes of the US dental therapy movement through a health equity lens, including community engagement, implementation…

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