141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

288888
Power of partnerships: Dental institutions' efforts to address access to oral care in underserved populations

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 5:30 PM - 5:50 PM

Kim D'Abreu, MPH , ADEA Policy Center, American Dental Education Association, Washington, DC
Paul Glassman, DDS, MA, MBA , Pacific Center for Special Care, University of the Pacific School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA
Lauren S.B. Evans , ADEA Policy Center, American Dental Education Association, Washington, DC
Maysa Namakian, MPH , Department of Dental Practice, University of the Pacific School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA
Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General (2000) found “profound and consequential oral health disparities within the U.S. population.” Underserved Minorities (Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians) and the medically disabled had the least access to dental care and the poorest oral health. One strategy for improvement has been the National Dental Pipeline Program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. From 2001 to 2010 twenty-three dental schools developed community-based clinical education programs, revised dental school curricula to support these programs, and increased recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority and low-income students. Since 2001, several new dental schools have opened and there are additional schools and potential community partners that can benefit from additional in-depth understanding of the lessons learned in these programs. To that end, in 2011, the Dental Pipeline National Learning Institute (DPNLI) was launched as a year-long training institute to support dental schools and their community partners in implementing community based-dental education programs and on recruiting, admitting, and retaining underrepresented minority students. The purpose of the DPNLI is to support and encourage the establishment of community partnerships that: improve access to quality dental care, create greater system efficiency, and reap the benefits of communal partnership with local organizations. The proposed presentation highlights key program components and discusses academic community partnerships as a means for immediate and long-term impact on reducing access disparities by recruiting and admitting more students from dentally underserved communities, thereby alleviating health care provider shortage areas.

Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs

Learning Objectives:
Analyze the Dental Pipeline National Learning Institute and its challenges and innovations. Discuss the strategies to sustain dental school community partnerships as a means to transform delivery systems, improve education, and leverage funding for oral health. Assess the value of dental school–community partnership as a means to improve oral care access.

Keywords: Oral Health Needs, Community-Based Partnership

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: lead the ADEA Access, Diversity, and Inclusion portfolio promoting innovative programs, practices and strategies that advance robust and diverse learning environments in dental education. Focused efforts include increasing the diversity of students, faculty, and administrators in allied, predoctoral, and advanced dental education programs. Previously, I was the Deputy Director of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pipeline, Profession & Practice Community-Based Dental Education (Dental Pipeline) Program at the Center for Family and Community Medicine at Columbia University.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.