Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education
Open Access

Research Article

Achieving Equity in Oral Health: A Data-driven Approach for Informing Policy Changes

Moore CE^1-4*, Reznik D^1,2, Conboy L³, Giwa J¹, Aslam F^1,5, Bussenius H^1,3, Aidman C¹ and Warren RC^2,4

¹Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, New Jersey, USA

²Healing Community Center, Georgia, USA

³Urban Health Initiative, Emory University, Georgia, USA

⁴The National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, Tuskegee University, USA

⁵Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Georgia, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Charles E Moore, MD
Urban Health Initiative, Emory University
Atlanta, Georgia, 30303, USA
Tel: 404-616-8261
E-mail: cemoore@emory.edu

Received date: February 28, 2017; Accepted date: March 23, 2017; Published date: March 27, 2017

Citation: Moore CE, Reznik D, Conboy L, Giwa J, Aslam F, et al. (2017) Achieving Equity in Oral Health: A Data-driven Approach for Informing Policy Changes. J Community Med Health Educ 7:511. doi: 10.4172/2161-0711.1000511

Copyright: © 2017 Moore CE, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Due to the lack of access to affordable oral healthcare in outpatient settings, emergency departments (EDs) see unnecessary overuse in providing palliative care for mouth pain. Hospitals across the country are exhausting limited human and fiscal resources on patients seeking relief for non-traumatic oral conditions that could be better managed in nonhospital settings. Community dental clinics offer one strategy for easing the burden on EDs, while simultaneously reducing costs to the system, facilitating definitive care, and minimizing time away from work and home for patients. The expansion of government funding, including comprehensive adult Medicaid dental benefits, to facilitate preventive and restorative coverage for populations in need in outpatient settings would increase access to appropriate care and likely further reduce the tendency for patients to seek dental care in EDs. Targeting of specific high-risk groups (such as low-resourced or minority persons) also would help to remove barriers to care, lessen disparities in access and treatment, and improve equity in oral health in the U.S.

Keywords