ADA convenes major summit on finding dental care access solutions

The ADA’s first Access to Dental Care Summit March 23-25 at Association headquarters in Chicago gathered 144 stakeholders from a dozen diverse groups to share ideas, brainstorm and work collaboratively to improve access to dental care.

ADA President John S. Findley welcomed participants to the historic event.

“The American Dental Association is pleased to convene this summit to create a common vision, to increase access to dental care and improve the oral health of underserved populations,” said Dr. Findley. “Making significant progress toward improving access will take commitment from a broad group of stakeholders who will work together to advance promising practices and new initiatives. The ADA is committed to finding common ground and shared solutions to address the oral health needs of the most vulnerable among us.”

The ADA Council on Access, Prevention and Interprofessional Relations recommended that the Association host a national summit following the death of 12-year-old Deamonte Driver in February 2007 from a brain abscess attributed to untreated dental disease and the subsequent national attention focused on access to care for underserved children.

CAPIR’s recommendation became ADA House of Delegates Resolution 17H-2007.

Laurie Norris, the Baltimore attorney who worked with the Driver family to find dental care before Deamonte’s death, was one of the participants.

She reiterated her testimony at a congressional hearing in Washington in May 2007: “It took the combined efforts of one mother, one lawyer, one helpline supervisor, and three health care case management professionals to make a dental appointment for a single Medicaid-insured child.

“I am here because Deamonte Driver’s case is a trial by fire for access in Maryland,” said Ms. Norris. “We need to find real solutions for those who need access to care nationwide.”

Participants stowed away laptops, BlackBerrys and cell phones and turned their attention to a variety of exercises, discussions and collaborative projects to address one question: What are we going to do, in the short and long term, both individually and collectively, to assure optimal oral health through prevention and treatment for underserved people?

“This summit will be task-focused, bringing people from various walks of life into the same conversation,” Dr. Lindsey Robinson, CAPIR chair, told the group. “Through focused activities and dialogue, summit participants will discover common ground and be better able to offer and buy into concrete action plans. Thinking outside of the box is required.”

Utilizing the Future Search method for finding common ground, workshop activities were designed to help participants examine the past, evaluate the present and plan for the future to improve access to care.

Dr. Myron Allukian Jr., called the summit “refreshing.

“I am very pleased to see people not being defensive, but developing a rapport with each other,” said Dr. Allukian, past president of the American Public Health Association and now a consultant after 34 years of service as the dental director for the city of Boston. “This will help us find areas where we agree so we can move forward to make a difference for the underserved.”

Though a majority of the conference was spent in collaborative exercises, three speakers also offered insight for the group.

Capt. Bruce Dye, a U.S. Public Health Service Epidemiology Officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, covered access and oral health trends. Ronald A. Chez, M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist, educator and author, discussed access, professionalism and ethics. William A. Smith, Ed.D., executive vice president, Academy for Educational Development, spoke on social marketing trends.

Howard Ross, founder and chief learning officer for Cook-Ross Inc., served as facilitator for the summit.

The summit was underwritten through sponsorship from the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., with support from Procter & Gamble and the Dental Trade Alliance.

The goals of the summit were to create a common vision for long term improvement to access to oral health care; to collaboratively address the challenges to improve oral health; to identify and discuss new approaches and initiatives to address disparities and access for the underserved that all stakeholders can support; and to develop a draft implementation plan for improving access to care.

Participants included constituent executive directors, volunteer leaders, ADA leadership, dental special interest representatives, dental education and research representatives, finance partners, advocacy group representatives, health care policymakers, dental industry representatives, nondental health workers, federal agency representatives and safety net dental providers.

Dr. Frank Mazzeo Jr., a member of the safety net dental providers group, said the summit “was the best conference I’ve attended in a long, long time. I didn’t know what to expect, but I’ve learned an awful lot.”

Dr. Mazzeo, senior vice president and chief dental officer for Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida Inc., said he was glad to visit ADA Headquarters for the first time in his 42 years of membership.

“When ADA leaders openly discussed the things they were proud of as well as their regrets, I was really humbled,” said Dr. Mazzeo. “I was so moved. The ADA does care about access to dental care for the underserved and uninsured and it’s making a momentous step, putting itself on the line, bringing people from all walks of life into the same room to make sure there is oral health care justice.”

Dr. J. Leslie Winston, director of Oral Care Professional & Scientific Relations for the Procter & Gamble Co., said she was thankful for the opportunity to participate as a member of the dental industry stakeholders group.

“I am here to make sure I have a good understanding of the broader health community and the issues it faces,” said Dr. Winston. “I usually interface on the national level, but this is a great opportunity for me to come and learn and enable P & G to make better decisions about how it can become involved. Working together, we are getting a shared vision and a nice framework for where we need to go.”

Stephen Myles, a fourth year dental student at Howard University College of Dentistry, attended as the representative of the Student National Dental Association.

“I’m excited to be here because it’s a part of history,” said Mr. Myles. “It’s monumental to be here and to know a student’s voice, and an underrepresented minority’s voice, is wanted.”

Mr. Myles, who plans a career in public health dentistry, said “The summit has been far-reaching and inclusive. We have looked at issues that face the underrepresented as far as dental care, care delivery and policy and listened to different voices across demographic lines. I’d like to come back in five years and see what has changed and see how I can get involved.”

Participants’ work groups will continue to meet to sketch out action steps developed during the summit. For more information on the summit or upcoming action steps, contact Dr. Steve Geiermann, senior manager, Access, Community Oral Health Infrastructure & Capacity for CAPIR, at geiermanns@ada.org or call the toll free number, Ext. 2667.聽