Dental Hygienists Increase Access to Oral Health Care
with Grassroots Community Outreach

Chicago-February 20, 2003 - With research identifying periodontal (gum) disease as a potential risk factor for numerous systemic diseases, it is clear that oral health is a significant component of total health. However, due to disparities in the health care system, access to oral health care remains a critical issue in the U.S.

Indeed, the 2001 Surgeon's General report Oral Health in America called attention to this important connection and stated that, if left untreated, poor oral health is a "silent X-factor promoting the onset of life-threatening diseases which are responsible for the deaths of millions of Americans each year."

Federal government statistics reveal the gravity of this public health issue. In 2000, more than 97 million people in the U.S. went without a dental visit. In the same year, more than 150 million Americans, 55 percent of the population, had no dental insurance. Finally, in a government report from 2001, more than 31 million people lived in areas where there was less than one full-time dentist for a population of 4,000 to 5,000 people.

Working to solve the access crisis, dental hygienists from across the country are stepping in to educate and deliver oral health care to those in need, on their own time, outside of routine office care. Just a few examples of this grassroots effort are detailed below.

• Tammi Glenn Cahoon, RDH, BSDH, of Midlothian, Va., is a volunteer with the Missions of Mercy project that has helped nearly 4,000 rural Virginians receive oral health care. The project has provided free oral health care equal to nearly $1.5 million in care and tools donated by oral health professionals.
  
  
• Annie L. Gibbs, RDH, of Lamar, Colo., was actively involved in the opening of the High Plains Dental Clinic-a clinic that operates as the primary source of oral care for thousands of low-income townspeople, including a sizable population of migrant farm workers. Gibbs also runs an oral health outreach program at the Lamar Migrant Summer School, where she provides dental hygiene services to hundreds of children.
  
  
• Maxine Wehling, RDH, of Broken Bow, Neb., is spreading the word to residents in Nebraska's rural townships about the importance of early detection and the need for regular oral cancer screenings. In 2001, she set up the first-ever oral health booth at the Custer County Health Fair, where she spoke about cavities, periodontal disease and good nutrition, and conducted head-and-neck exams.

ADHA President Kimberly K. Benkert, RDH, MPH, COM, applauds these oral health professionals for their efforts and stresses that dental hygienists could help solve the access crisis if state laws were changed to permit them to provide oral health care services in more settings outside private dental offices, with less restrictive supervision.

"Organized dentistry's unwillingness to allow dental hygienists the professional freedom to treat patients when, where and how it is needed contributes significantly to the access crisis," said Benkert. "ADHA urges them to acknowledge that licensed dental hygienists are qualified to perform oral health care services, and they can serve as an invaluable pipeline for identifying and sending on those who need the care of a dentist."

There are several factors that inhibit access to oral health care, the most evident being the inability to pay for care. However, bureaucratic and legal barriers, among other factors, also prevent dental hygienists from providing access to care.

Because access to care is largely unknown, the American Dental Hygienists' Association encourages further public discussion of this vital public health issue.

ADHA is the largest national organization representing the professional interests of the more than 120,000 dental hygienists across the country.

Dental hygienists are preventive oral health professionals, licensed in dental hygiene, who provide educational, clinical and therapeutic services that support total health through the promotion of optimal oral health.

For more information about ADHA, dental hygiene or the link between oral health and general health, visit ADHA at http://www.adha.org. To read ADHA's access to care position paper featuring a full, in-depth report on this issue, please visit http://www.adha.org/profissues/access_to_care.htm.

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