In my last blog, I mentioned the two recent bills for dental coverage under AHCCCS that were passed into law: dental coverage for disabled adults and adult emergency dental coverage. Let’s take a deeper look into the non-governmental organizations that deserve a lot of credit for their involvement in getting those bill passed and for their current efforts with SB1088 – dental coverage for pregnant women under AHCCCS.
During my interview with Kevin Earle, he talked a lot about the Arizona Dental Association (ADA) and their involvement with access to care issues (K. Earle, personal communication, January 30, 2019). The ADA works to improve the oral health of Arizona (ADA, 2019). They strive to accomplish this mission through supporting dental providers and quality of dental care, as well as advocating and lobbying for policies that increase access to care. Because Kevin and the ADA so intimately understand the impact of no dental care for the millions of individuals with AHCCCS, they are able to voice their expertise and concerns to those with legislative power. They are able to articulate the scientific evidence that supports access to dental care. The ADA is always “at the table” so to speak when oral health care is being discussed (K. Earle, personal communication, January 30, 2019).
Within Kevin’s role as the chief lobbyist, he speaks at legislative hearings and is also involved with putting specific language into the bills (K. Earle, personal communication, January 30, 2019). He was involved with removing a monetary limit of $1000 per pregnancy per women, so that if SB1088 passes this year, women who might require more extensive treatments can get them (K. Earle, personal communication, January 30, 2019). The focus is on quality of care along with access to care.
Many other non-governmental organizations in Arizona have played and continue to play important roles in developing and advocating for SB1088, including:
- March of Dimes
- Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers
- Arizona Public Health Association
- Arizona Dental Hygienist Association
- Arizona Medical Association
- Arizona Nurses Association
Each of these groups brings their own expertise that is important for this issue. Each organization understands and can articulate the value of dental care for pregnant women for our decision makers in legislation (K. Earls, personal communication, January 30, 2019).
Below is a patient education handout from the March of Dimes focused on improving oral health in pregnancy:
Ultimately, the goal of all of these groups is the same: prevention and treatment of oral health problems to prevent the inflammation that is associated with poor pregnancy outcomes. The whole point of this bill is to improve the oral health of pregnant women in our community, prevent periodontal disease from occurring with regular cleanings and education about good oral health practices, decrease poor outcomes of preterm birth and low birth weight, and help women establish a dental home. Unfortunately, this dental benefit is gone once the mom is 6 months postpartum. In an ideal world, dental health will be recognized for how important it is and preventative dental care will be covered for all adults and children with Medicaid. Kevin and the ADA plan soon to focus efforts on getting Medicare to cover dental services, and maybe one day they will help get full adult preventative care coverage under Medicaid.
Reference
Arizona Dental Association. (2019). AzDA: Where dentists succeed. Retrieved from https://www.azda.org/about.
Oral Health Care Access for Pregnant Women: A Health Policy Blog 
Hello Sara,
What an interesting blog and topic. I must admit I did not realize the importance of dental health during pregnancy until exploring your blog further. I decided to do a bit of my own research and found an article that discusses this topic and mentions that the surgeon general declared oral health as a silent epidemic and additionally, the prenatal period is a sensitive period of increased risk for oral health, mainly because of hormonal changes in the body [1]. I thought this was astounding and I too feel that this problem needs to be emphasized more in the public and private sectors of policy making. It is great that there is a decent amount of non-governmental organizations in Arizona helping to develop and advocate for SB1088. I thought that patient handout was also a great resource, I hope it is being used in the appropriate clinics! I look forward to continuing to follow your blog, great work.
Reference:
1. Vamos, C. A., Walsh, M. L., Thompson, E., Daley, E. M., Detman, L., & DeBate, R. (2015). Oral-systemic health during pregnancy: Exploring prenatal and oral health providers’ information, motivation, and behavioral skills. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 19, 1263-1275. doi: 10.1007/s10995-014-1632-7
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I enjoyed reading your post. I like how you tied public and private sectors together and I think it’s important to articulate how working together helps to achieve one common goal: improving outcomes. As you discussed, private sector organizations, such as the March of Dimes have a goal to decrease premature births. They admit to being policy advocates and they are continually doing research to support their mission. More importantly, the March of Dimes is a private sector organization that strives to narrow the gap of racial and ethnic disparities (1). What a perfect example of the advancements noted within a private sector. Your policy blog, improving access to oral health care in pregnancy, also does that.
I think it’s important for health care providers such as Kevin (dental) and you (OBGYN) to continue advocating for policy changes within our public sectors. Your specialty and expertise is just what is needed to boost innovation because private sector individuals and organizations sometimes have more knowledge than some public organizations. Great job. I look forward to following your blog.
References
1. March of Dimes. (2019). Community impact. Retrieved from https://www.marchofdimes.org/mission/community-impact.aspx
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