Oral health summit highlights strategic plan
Santa Cruz County oral health care leaders gathered in Aptos this week to highlight the launch of a new plan to address dental care inequities and celebrate past accomplishments that have moved the needle in the right direction.
The strategic plan, guiding oral health initiatives in the county from 20242028, comes from Oral Health Access Santa Cruz County, a coalition of 24 local government agencies, nonprofits and health care providers coordinating their efforts in the interest of producing better outcomes for patients.
“Access to oral health care for low-income populations in Santa Cruz County … has been a longstanding problem,” said David Brody to a crowd of nearly 100 people gathered at Seascape Golf Club in Aptos for the oral health summit. Brody is co-chair of Oral Health Access and executive director of First 5 Santa Cruz County. “When we started this work, we wanted to make sure not just that we made a difference, but as we've already shown, a measurable one and I think it's obvious that we are coming a long way and we still have work to do.”
The group and its first strategic plan was formed in 2016 with a focus on care for children, expanded treatment, prevention and clinical capacity. Since then, 3,400 more people with Medi-Cal across the county are visiting the dentist and, according to a 2022 countywide dental care assessment, 57% of children 2 years and younger with MediCal had an annual dental visit compared to only 25% statewide.
The cumulative number of dental appointments provided by Dientes, which
was integral to the formation of the coalition, and Watsonville-based Salud Para La Gente was 33,000 in 2012, 55,000 in 2016 and grew to 62,000 in 2022.
“We've made great improvements since 2012,” said Dr. Sung Sohn, the dental director at Salud Para La Gente. “But more work needs to be done.”
The coalition, as part of its new four-year strategic plan, will work toward four key goals: continued capacity expansion, collaboration with local schools, a focus on seniors and medical and dental care integration.
In terms of capacity, the group is aiming to increase the number of dental appoints from 62,000 to 74,000 by 2028. According to the 2022 report, only about 31,000 of 82,000 Medi-Cal users in the county could go to the dentist. To meet this goal, the groups are aiming to increase capacity for existing clinics and mobile dental programs and hire more dentists, hygienists and assistants.
Adults that are 65 years and older are also a point of major concern for local dental leaders because, according to Dientes CEO Laura Marcus, only about 25% of seniors with MediCal currently visit the dentist
despite a recent survey ordered by Dientes revealing that 61% of senior respondents view oral health as important.
“For me, this was an eye opener because you consider issues around housing and access to food and other health care services,” said Marcus. “Seniors know that their teeth are important—that oral health is important.”
Poor oral health has been linked with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's, poor birth outcomes, limits on the ability to eat health food, find a job or socialize with peers, according to Dientes Executive Vice President of Operations and Chief Dental Officer Dr. Sepi Taghvaei.
Last year, county health leaders told the Board of Supervisors that they are projecting one-third of all county residents will be age 60 or older by 2030. According to the Data Share Santa Cruz County website, there are about 53,824 people 65 or older living in the county, or a little more than 20% of the population.
The group plans to increase the percentage of Medi-Cal seniors visiting the dentist to 40% by 2028 by providing mobile dentistry at senior centers and meal sites, promoting transportation options that facilitate dental visits, distributing hygiene kits and advocacy for the addition of dental benefits to Medicare.
The event also honored a number of local oral health heroes, including Sohn and Rachel Sandobal from Salud Para La Gente as well as Taghvaei with Dientes and Santa Cruz County 2nd District Supervisor Zach Friend, who previously served as co-chairs for the local partnership group.
Project Smile, a studentled organization at UC Santa Cruz that distributes oral hygiene kits to those from disadvantaged communities, was given the Rising Star Award.
“I don't think somebody could identify where there's been greater impacts and greater changes toward access and outcomes than the work that's been done in the last eight years here,” said Friend. “Each one of those percentages is a person; it's a kid; it's a senior; it's a member of our community that hasn't had access, has been forgotten in many respects.”
Among the 24 partners that contribute to the coalition are Dientes Community Dental, Delta Dental, Salud Para La Gente, Community Bridges, First 5 Santa Cruz County, the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, Santa Cruz Community Health, Senior Network Services, United Way of Santa Cruz County and the county's Human Services Agency.