History and Milestones

A Brief History and Milestones

Access to Dental Care Summit, March 2009

The “Access to Dental Care Summit” was convened in Chicago by the American Dental Association with the support of a planning committee serving in a volunteer capacity. The objective was to bring together representatives from a variety of communities to create a shared vision to improve the oral health of underserved populations in the United States.

The full Proceedings of the Access to Dental Care Summit are well documented. Through participatory problem-solving and shared perspectives, the diverse stakeholders embraced collaboration as the best means to address the challenges to improve oral health access. The Proceedings provide full details about the Summit agenda, speakers and participants, the 12 stakeholder groups and their planning representatives, outcomes, and short-term strategies.

The diverse group of ’144′ individual stakeholders at the Summit included: health care policymakers, representatives of dental education and research institutions, dental association leaders, financing organizations including third-party-payers and philanthropy, non-dental health care providers, dental volunteer leaders, consumer advocacy groups, special interest groups, and state dental societies.

By the conclusion of the Summit, the participants agreed to work together to address these priority areas:

  1. Population-based prevention strategies to strengthen the public health infrastructure
  2. Improving oral health literacy
  3. Collaboration between the medical and dental communities
  4. Developing metrics for measuring and defining access
  5. Financing models
  6. Strengthening the dental delivery system

The Coordination and Communication Workgroup

The Summit participants supported the formation of a Coordination and Communication Workgroup, composed of leaders representing the original 12 stakeholder groups of the Summit, supported by DentaQuest Foundation and American Dental Association staff. The members of the Coordination and Communication Workgroup (with their respective workgroup stakeholder groups in the parentheses) include:

Jack Bresch (dental education and research), American Dental Education Association

Douglas Bush (state dental society executive directors), Indiana Dental Association

Caswell Evans, DDS (dental education and research), College of Dentistry, University of Illinois at Chicago

Wendy Frosh (healthcare policymakers), Health Care Management Strategies

Ralph Fuccillo (finance), DentaQuest Foundation

Shelly Gehshan (healthcare policymakers), Pew Center on the States

Leslie Grant, DDS (dental special interest groups), National Dental Association

Chris Halliday, DDS (federal), Office of the Surgeon General

Larry Hill, DDS (dental safety net providers), American Association for Community Dental Programs

Evelyn Ireland (finance), National Association of Dental Plans

Steve Kess (dental industry), Henry Schein, Inc.

Dushanka Kleinman, DDS (primary care/medical providers), University of Maryland School of Public Health

David Krol, MD (primary care/medical providers), American Academy of Pediatrics

William Maas, DDS (federal), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (retired)

Vincent Mayher, DMD (organized dentistry leadership), private dental provider

Martha Phillips (state dental society executive directors), Georgia Dental Association

W. Ken Rich, DMD (organized dentistry leadership), American Dental Association

Lindsey Robinson, DDS (CAPIR consultant), American Dental Association

Cesar Sabates, DDS (volunteer leaders), American Dental Association

Following the Summit, and dedicated to working in an inclusive and productive manner, the Coordination and Communication Workgroup met together and in separate subgroups to drive forward key initiatives that had been set in motion at the Summit. The members worked together through many conference calls,  face-to-face meetings and individual tasks.

Key meetings of the full Coordination and Communication Workgroup include:

May 2009 (Boston)

C&C Workgroup meeting organized around the 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?” Key areas of discussion:

  • Clarification about the role and deliverables of the Coordination and Communication Workgroup
  • Resources and funding necessary to develop a “national coalition” as a result of the Summit
  • Development of a case statement to use for resource development
  • Dynamic processes to support the workgroups’ forward movement, communications, common ground
  • Workgroup roles and projects for near-term and future development

    

January 2010 (Washington, DC)

C&C Workgroup in conjunction with Representatives of the Original 12 Stakeholder Groups

  • Re-endorsed the work of the Coordination and Communication Workgroup
  • Developed a draft “elevator speech” about the work of the C&C Workgroup
  • Proposed formalizing the work of this C&C Workgroup as a 501c3
  • Recommended the use of the word “Alliance ” in the name of the 501c3
  • Selected interim directors of the Alliance: Doug Bush, Caswell Evans, Vinny Mayher
  • Created a set of operating principles.

March 2010 (Washington, DC)

  • Agreed on the need for: staying focused on the “common ground,” developing adequate resources, developing interdependence in working together, balancing the interests of all stakeholders, developing a revised case statement / elevator speech, etc.
  • Helpful themes from the discussions included: financing, prevention, care system/s, oral health literacy, social determinants, and cultural competence – all informed by a “common ground”

 

May 2010 (telephone meeting)

  • Endorsement from the group to move forward with a 501c3 designation
  • Structure subgroup formed to focus on the 501c3 process and milestones

 

July 2010 (Boston, MA)

Meeting of the C&C Workgroup in conjunction with representatives of the original 12 stakeholder groups who participated in the Access to Dental Care Summit

  • Discussion about forming a “national oral health alliance” – participants, roles, structure, measures of progress, funding, etc.
  • Development Subcommittee formed
  • Planning to begin for reengaging the individuals/organizations who participated in the 2009 Summit
  • Decision made to develop/implement the US NOHA website.

 

January 2011 (Washington, D.C.)

  • C&C Workgroup members came together for a one-day meeting
  • The group endorsed the formation of the U.S. National Oral Health Alliance as a 501c3
  • Planning began to reengage the Summit participants in an informational webinar (March 2011), and through individual follow-up discussions with members of the C&C Workgroup in spring 2011

See attachment: Building on the Access to Dental Care Summit - A Brief Summary of Progress

March 22, 2011

A webinar, Progress on Access to Oral Health, provided an update to the original participants of the American Dental Association Access to Dental Care Summit (convened in 2009) about the progress of the Coordination and Communication workgroup since it was formed.

 

U.S. National Oral Health Alliance

“top