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Without regular, preventive dental care, early tooth decay or gum disease can worsen, hurting our overall health and increasing treatment costs. But many people can’t access the preventive services they need.

By Stacey Auger, MPH, policy consultant, CareQuest Institute

In early 2022, 700 Afghan refugees arrived in central Iowa, trying to settle into a community unlike any they’d ever seen. A strange landscape. A sea of unfamiliar faces. A new life.And they had 90 days to get settled.

When patients fill out a form at a dentist’s or doctor’s office, do they see themselves represented? For individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or have other sexual orientations or gender identities (LGBTQ+), the answer can sometimes be a hard “no.” And it’s an example of a larger problem in oral health: Structural bias and stigma around gender, gender expression, and sexual orientation can deepen LGBTQ+ oral health inequity.

 A picture may be worth a thousand words, but for two oral health care teams in North Carolina, it’s the numbers that are invaluable. “Data gives you a concrete picture of your practice,” says Rebecca Sykes, DDS, the dental director for Wake County Department of Health and Human Services Dental Clinic, a local health department, in North Carolina.

Taiwo Ngo, DDS, and Kehinde Obeto, MD, have quite a few things in common: They’re both from Lagos, Nigeria. They both moved to Ohio to pursue careers in health care. And they both now provide care for underserved populations in the Toledo area. They’re also twins with strong family ties to health care. “While we were in Nigeria, our dad was a pediatrician,” Obeto says. “He’s passed now, but he had his own hospital where I worked part-time before I moved to the States.”

Tooth decay and gum disease can make it difficult to eat, talk, and concentrate. But the damage they do can go beyond our mouths. Oral health affects our overall health. Poor oral hygiene can raise the risk of several diseases elsewhere in our body, from diabetes to dementia. Fortunately, preventive care can help.

In just one school year, Blue Ridge Health in North Carolina has helped more than 1,200 children get the dental care they need through teledentistry. But that help comes with its challenges. “Internet connectiv . . .” says Ben Cozart, DDS, the dental director at Blue Ridge Health, cutting out, on cue, as he was explaining the program during a phone call.

Taiwo Ngo, DDS, has witnessed how medical-dental integration can help more people get the health care they need. “I had a patient — a child — that Dr. Obeto referred to me,” Ngo says. “And they didn’t call, and so I called [the child’s guardian] to make the appointment.”

While most kids hated wearing braces in fifth grade, Alayna Schoblaske, DMD, was the exception. That was when she realized she wanted to be a dentist. “I haven’t turned back since,” she says. Schoblaske came from a family of engineers and teachers, so the idea of working with her hands while educating patients about their oral health felt like a great fit. And she was fascinated by the impact teeth could have on a person — which led her to her ultimate calling of community dentistry to help patients in underserved areas.