Oral Health

Justice in Aging has released an issue brief intended to equip state oral health, aging, and disability advocates with education and advocacy tips on how to leverage Medicaid waivers to expand access to oral health and address disparities in access to dental treatment. The issue brief begins with an explanation of Medicaid waivers, including what they do and who they impact. This is followed by state-specific examples illustrating how Medicaid waivers can both expand the scope of coverage available and address barriers to care.

ASTDD has shared a new collection of resources, Older Adult Oral Health Resources for Collaboration. This resource was developed by a workgroup consisting of individuals from state public health programs, academia, and clinicians caring for older adults in a variety of settings. It includes information on the link between oral health and overall health, oral health and chronic disease, special populations, ventilator and non-ventilator pneumonia, nutrition, financing routine dental care, information for non-dental providers, teledentistry and equity.

This brief describes the racial disparities in access to oral health and oral health outcomes. Coverage is a key factor in reducing the existing disparities. This brief proposes adding oral health as a Medicare benefit as a potential solution. It also proposes additional policy options aimed at reducing disparities beyond expanding oral health coverage,

OHA has published volume IV of A State of Decay. This report examines the progress of states in promoting oral health in older adults, analyzing a combination of publicly available data and information from surveys conducted with state dental directors. It uses six main variables from these sources to rank states according to the quality of their oral health care for adults aged 65 plus. The report also highlights a number of future recommendations for supporting oral health in older adults.

This report from the Center for Oral Health highlights how an alarming number of Californians age 65 years and older are suffering from untreated tooth decay and poor oral health. This report includes a series of recommendations to eliminate barriers to care and improve oral health.

This brief analyzes dental service use and cost data for non-elderly Medicaid-enrolled adults by individual, community, and state-level factors. This brief is intended to help stakeholders identify opportunities to improve access to care and, ultimately, achieve sustainable oral health improvements for low-income adults.

The ADvancing States created an infographic that depicts an overview of the oral health experiences of older adults and persons with disabilities. This resource highlights who is impacted, what happens as a result, why this happens, and where we can go from here.

The Center for Health Care Strategies, with funding from DentaQuest Foundation, published a technical assistance brief that provides a framework to improve social determinants that affect oral health in the community.