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Take Action for Oral Health
Participate in OPEN’s Virtual Day of Action | May 14, 2025
Now more than ever, it is crucial to amplify our collective voice to safeguard oral health coverage and access for communities across the US.
While a group of OPEN members are meeting with congressional leaders in Washington, DC, you can make an impact from home by participating in our Virtual Day of Action.
3 Ways to Take Action
Use our customizable email template to ask your members of Congress for their support on critical oral health policy issues.
This toolkit includes sample social media posts and graphics to make it easy for you to spread the word about oral health policy issues.
Contact your members of Congress to request a virtual meeting. After the meeting, fill out this survey so we can track which legislators and staff were engaged, what issues were discussed, and identify follow-up actions.
What Do We Want Congress To Do?
Action 1:
Oppose Medicaid cuts that would jeopardize access to dental care for 72 million people who rely on the program.
- Medicaid is a vital source of dental coverage for children, people with disabilities, and low-income adults and seniors — improving health outcomes, reducing medical debt, and boosting economic opportunity and job performance.
- Cuts to Medicaid funding would force states to eliminate adult dental benefits, leading to increased emergency room use, reduced services or closures of safety net dental providers, and higher system-wide health care costs.
Action 2:
Improve access to dental care for veterans who get medical care through the VA.
- The majority of veterans do not qualify for VA dental benefits, and those who do often face provider shortages, geographic barriers, and high out-of-pocket costs — placing them at greater risk for chronic conditions and financial strain.
- Nearly 8 million veterans report fair or poor oral health, with rural and disabled veterans disproportionately affected due to limited provider access and higher care costs.
Action 3:
Support the HEADs UP Act, which would designate people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) as a Medically Underserved Population (MUP) and increase their access to oral health care.
- Individuals with I/DD face worse oral health outcomes — reporting less frequent dental visits and higher rates of discrimination and emergency dental care use compared to those without disabilities.
- Designating the I/DD population as a Medically Underserved Population would expand access to tailored services through health centers, enhance provider training and support, and unlock targeted federal funding to address longstanding access gaps — including in oral health care.
Information Sheets
Veterans Need Affordable Dental Care
Most veterans do not qualify for VA dental benefits.
What Can Congress Do?
Three actions Congress can take to improve oral health for millions of Americans.
OPEN, an initiative of CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, is a diverse network of individuals and entities who are taking on America’s oral health challenges so that everyone has a chance to thrive. OPEN members use their unique experiences, knowledge, and skills to lead network activities every year, creating collective energy that is driving large-scale change.