Key findings from the NIH’s “Oral Health in America” Report: How Delta Dental is addressing the challenges that remain
By Vivian Vasallo, Executive Director, Delta Dental Institute
In December 2021, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) published a new report, “Oral Health in America: Advances and Challenges,” that is a follow-up report to the Surgeon General’s 2000 study, “Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General.”
This report features new critical findings on America’s oral health and provides a roadmap on how to improve the nation’s oral health, drawing from public research and evidence-based practices. Additionally, this report was compiled and reviewed by NIDCR and a large, diverse, multi-disciplinary team of more than 400 experts – including two of Delta Dental’s renowned oral health authorities: Dr. Jeffrey Chaffin of Delta Dental of Iowa and Dr. Ron Inge of Delta Dental of Missouri.
Although the report acknowledges improvements in oral health in the past two decades, the gap in health equity has only grown leaving many vulnerable communities without oral healthcare. Among the most striking of the findings in the report are the three calls to action that result from the report’s seven key findings. We join the oral health community – and all health leaders - in facing these challenges head-on. Delta Dental Institute has made significant strides specific to these calls to action and will continue to address the challenges that remain.
“Oral Health In America” Calls to Action
To significantly improve the nation’s oral health, policy changes are needed to reduce or eliminate social, economic, and other systemic inequities that affect oral health behaviors and access to care.
How Delta Dental is addressing this challenge:
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Recognizing that federal agencies play a foundational role in advancing the oral health of all Americans, DDI is advocating for oral health experts among their senior leadership to craft policy solutions that create improved equity and access to oral health care. Based upon analysis that DDI conducted in December 2020, in twelve federal agencies that oversee oral health initiatives, only two currently have a Chief Dental Officer or equivalent, compared to seven with a Chief Medical Officer or equivalent. DDI has called upon the Administration to keep oral health top of mind and urges the federal health agencies to prioritize oral health in their leadership and funding decisions.
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Delta Dental Institute commended the U.S. House of Representatives for prioritizing oral health and oral health literacy with the passage of the Oral Health Literacy and Awareness Act of 2021. The Delta Dental Institute encourages the Senate to promptly take up the legislation. Our advocacy and research on the importance of oral health literacy includes an op-ed, white paper, and national polling.
To improve oral health for more people, dental and other health care professionals must work together to provide integrated oral, medical, and behavioral health care in schools, community health centers, nursing homes, and medical care settings as well as dental clinics.
How Delta Dental is addressing this challenge:
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While Delta Dental serves more than 80 million Americans, we recognize that many more lack access to care. Addressing disparities, identifying solutions for access to care, and creating inclusive approaches to care are of utmost importance to the Delta Dental Institute. We advance efforts of collaboration between oral care and medical care through research awards focused on the success and barriers in dental-medical collaboration models to inform future dental-medical collaboration strategies, evaluate the feasibility of policies to reduce disparities in oral health, and assess the use of a mobile application (app) to improve oral health literacy and care provisions among caregivers of older adults
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In addition to research, Delta Dental’s community impact efforts across the country underscore the importance of oral health’s role in overall health. In 2020, our community impact efforts took a wider lens, reflecting the many factors that influence a person’s oral, mental, physical, and emotional health. For example, as food insecurity gripped our nation, we donated more than $3 million to food banks — resulting in healthy meals for millions of families, with benefits for their oral and overall health.
To strengthen the oral health workforce, we need to diversify the composition of the nation’s oral health professionals, address the cost of educating and training the next generation, and ensure a strong research enterprise dedicated to improving oral health.
How Delta Dental is addressing this challenge:
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Across the country, Delta Dental companies and their foundations are deeply engaged in supporting the oral health workforce, including through outreach to K-12 students about the importance of oral health to overall health and supporting various oral health career paths by providing financial support to higher education institutions and scholarships for those pursuing oral health careers.
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Delta Dental remains committed to diversifying the oral health workforce pipeline and is engaged in a research initiative to identify pathways and solutions that improve the pipeline and ultimately improve access to care.
We invite you to sign up for the Delta Dental Institute’s quarterly newsletter to stay up to date on our efforts to advance oral and overall health across the country.