“The Medicaid kids here in Virginia have access to really fabulous comprehensive dental benefits,” said Bedard Holland. All of these factors, the group believes, are necessary to improving access to integrated care. It focuses on leadership, education, patient populations, available services, communication, measures and assessment, financing, infrastructure, and community support as well. The toolkit takes on these issues at the office level and across the industry. Oral care concerns in patients with mental illness or chronic illnesses like heart disease are addressed too. Also, almost 70% of them are prescribed an antibiotic because the ER doesn’t provide access to dental treatment, so providers there can only help with the pain and the infection.Īdditionally, better oral care can significantly impact ventilator-associated pneumonia in the intensive care unit as well as maternal and child health and wellness. “It doesn’t provide any preventive services.”įor example, Bedard Holland said, 81% of adults who go to the emergency room for dental treatment get prescribed an opioid. It’s an emergency extraction benefit that really doesn’t do anything to keep adults out of the emergency department for care,” said Bedard Holland. “One of the biggest challenges is that adults on Medicaid don’t have access to a comprehensive dental benefit. It also outlines opportunities to address community health needs across the medical spectrum, starting with strategies for reducing emergency room usage related to dental issues that could have been addressed more appropriately elsewhere. The toolkit is more than a series of questions and procedures for providers to ask and employ. “The relationships and associations are pretty astounding.” “We also know the opportunity for primary-care providers to talk to adult patients about the relationship between diabetes and periodontal disease, or between oral health and heart disease,” said Bedard Holland. That’s a fabulous opportunity for the pediatrician to begin applying a varnish to those early-erupting teeth and making sure that the caregivers understand the solid need for that child to see a dentist by the age of one,” said Bedard Holland. “We know that children see a pediatrician 8 times in their first year or 2 of life.
For instance, dentists can measure blood pressure during regular checkups, and pharmacists can monitor opioid use. The toolkit spotlights advice for dental, medical, behavioral health, pharmaceutical, and social support professionals, detailing where their interests overlap. “But they want some really practical information about how.” Or if they’re a dental provider, integrating a little more primary care,” said Sarah Bedard Holland, executive director of the VaOHC. “Were hearing from a lot of providers that they’re really excited about the possibilities of integrating oral health into their practice. To help, the Virginia Oral Health Coalition ( VaOHC) has developed an online toolkit that providers can use to improve their collaboration and address their patients’ needs. It’s a new perspective, though, and many dentists and doctors alike simply aren’t familiar with it. So, many dental practices and other healthcare providers are taking an integrated approach to treatment, working with each other to improve the lives of their patients. Successful outcomes in oral health often depend on how well the rest of the body is doing-and vice versa.
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