Models for Increasing Access to Oral Health Care for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS

This session will describe the HRSA Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) Oral Health Initiative, showcase four funded sites using different programmatic models to increase access to oral health care to patients living with HIV, and present baseline data results from over 1600 HIV positive patients receiving oral health care through this initiative. Each site has implemented a different method to increase access to oral health care: CHC is a community health center in Norwalk, Connecticut that expanded its access to include oral health care to patients with HIV; HIV Alliance is an AIDS service organization that partnered with an community college to incorporate the treatment of HIV patients by dental hygiene students; Special Health Resources Texas (SHRT) created a new position for a dental case manager to recruit and retain HIV patients in oral health care at three rural Texas locations; and Louisiana State University designed and purchased a mobile unit to provide comprehensive oral health care to HIV patients in New Orleans. Representatives from each site will discuss their unique program models and describe successes and challenges they have encountered in program planning and implementation. In addition they will discuss their methods for program sustainability. Finally demographic data will be presented by the Evaluation Center for HIV and Oral Health at Boston University of the 1600+ HIV patients receiving oral health care throughout the US at the 15 funded sites.