Increasing Access to Oral Health care through Dental Case Management

The purpose of this presentation is to describe the BlueCross BlueShield Foundation (BCBS) Oral Health Access Project at Cabarrus Health Alliance, the public health authority of Cabarrus County, NC. Cabarrus County is a melting pot of small towns and growing cities located in the Piedmont Region of NC. This presentation will demonstrate how a Case Management approach can be utilized to increase oral health care to low income children, their parents and pregnant woman that are Medicaid eligible through a collaborative effort with other community providers such as primary care physicians, pediatricians, child care center staff, school nurses, dentists, WIC staff and local care management systems. Although the dental case manager community approach has been utilized in other studies, North Carolina has added a wellness concept aimed at reducing the incidence of early childhood caries (ECC) as a direct result of the “Into The Mouths of Babes” (IMB) program, a North Carolina movement to end ECC. Dental caries is the most common chronic disease in children; improving the system will improve the overall health of children. The goal of this presentation will provide learners with an introduction to how a Dental Case Manager can strengthen the infrastructure of community providers. Currently only 31% of adults and 46% of children in Cabarrus County who are Medicaid eligible utilize it for dental services. Data from a 6 month period (approximately 1,500 patients) will be gathered reflecting the use of dental services for this group. Preliminary results will be presented to the group.