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By Katie D’Amico, MBA, Vice President Growth & Innovation, CareQuest Innovation Partners and Azeem Mallick, MBA, Vice President, Enterprise Strategic Partners, CareQuest Institute“We leave dental out all the time. It makes no sense.” 

Oral health is overall health. It’s more than a mantra, and nothing drives that fact home more than the research done in 2024 by CareQuest Institute. A few key findings from popular reports published this year show: 

We feel fortunate to have nearly 28,000 CareQuest Institute for Oral Health LinkedIn followers. And because our mission is to improve the oral health of all, we have a wide range of followers — everyone from dentists, dental hygienists, and students to policymakers, researchers, and countless stakeholders who want to see a better oral health system. 

Ensuring children have access to oral health care is a local challenge in many parts of the country. “Maine has reached a low in access to care like we’ve never seen,” says Courtney Vannah, IDPH, MS, MPH, senior program manager at MCD Global Health, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the health and well-being of people worldwide. “Children in Maine have long faced challenges in access to dental care within the traditional dental care delivery model.” 

By Caroline McLeod, MS, RDH, Value-Based Solutions Manager at CareQuest Institute 

“If they had a job, they could get real insurance and afford to get their teeth fixed.” “People are lazy if they have state insurance. They’re not as educated as others.” “Anyone could go to the dentist if they wanted to. They are choosing not to or not prioritizing it.” These are common perceptions about patients who struggle to access oral health care — a frequent topic during Wisconsin Medical-Dental Integration (MDI) Advisory Council quarterly meetings. 

Medical and oral health experts have long agreed that dental care in pregnancy is safe, effective, and important. Untreated dental disease can lead to pregnancy complications and raise the risk of cavities in childhood. However, more than 8 in 10 obstetricians don’t use oral health screenings in prenatal visits. And some dental providers may also still hesitate to treat pregnant people. 

As a licensed and nationally certified school psychologist and board-certified behavior analyst, Reeva Morton, PhD, BCBA-D, NCSP has her feet in two places at once: the University of Florida’s (UF) College of Medicine and the College of Dentistry. 

By Lisa J. Heaton, PhD, and Paige Martin, BA, science writers at CareQuest Institute 

“Kira Johnson lost her life to the Black maternal health crisis not because she was unhealthy, uninsured, or unlucky, but because she was unheard,” said U.S. Congresswoman Alma S. Adams, who represents North Carolina’s 12th Congressional District.