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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

James O'Connell, MD, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, 729 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02118, 617-414-7779, joconnell@bhchp.org

Homeless persons experience significant barriers to medical, behavioral, and oral health care.The relentless daily struggle for survival relegates health care to a distant priority behind the immediacy of the next meal and a bed for the night. The deplorable oral health of this improverished and vulnerable population is both a national disgrace and a personal tragedy for countless men, women, and children who face each day without safe housing or regular meals. Oral health care is a two-tiered system in American that illustrates the widening gap between the rich and poor. Studies across the country have consistently demonstrated the dire need for dental care among homeless populations, yet access to needed services is thwarted by lack of insurance and meager Medicaid reimbursement. Health Care for the Homelss Programs, funded by the HHS/HRSA Bureau of Primary Health Care, have struggled to provide dental services through creative and innovative models that attempt to adjust to the special needs of homeless persons. The Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program has provided preventive, emergent, and restorative dental care in shelters since 1985. The challenges and successes will be reviewed, including the most common problems and the implementation of a shared five-operatory dental suite with the South End Community Health Center in Boston.

Learning Objectives:

1.Participants will beable to list at least three opportunities and actions needed to change existing barriers to oral health among homeless and uninsured.
• Participants will be able to explain what health services Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program provides.
• Participants will be able to describe underlying oral health inequities among Boston homeless.

Keywords: Human Rights, Underserved Populations

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation