Meeting local oral health care needs: Learning from global solutions

Some people believe that the United States has the best healthcare system in the world, however there are huge health care disparities, including oral health disparities within rural communities. Rural communities are typically considered a special population, and are at a disadvantage for providing access to oral health care due to a variety of structural factors. This presentation will explore how access to care barriers are overcome within rural settings. Global solutions will be utilized as a component of solutions strategy to meet the health care disparities. Within the special population group of rural communities, there are numerous subsets of groups with specific barriers to oral health care. This presentation will also provide a case study to showcase how various healthcare disparities are addressed through health care solutions which have been adapted from global strategies.