CareQuest Institute is always seeking new voices representing historically marginalized communities to advance oral health. Through its philanthropic work, it partners with grassroots and community-based organizations that represent and engage those who are most directly impacted by oral health inequities. 

On March 13, the Institute is opening two new requests for proposals, looking to fund projects and partner with organizations that are: 

From 2005 to 2020, the percentage of US dentists who identify as Black has stayed around 3.8%. 

“The stagnant nature of this percentage should give us all pause,” said Eleanor Fleming, PhD, DDS, MPH. “This disparity is why having conversations like this around Black dentists, Black workforce, and issues related to the Black community are important for those of us who work in oral health.” 

In late 2022, Raydiance Swanston, MPH, CHES, was eager to bring the Community Oral Health Transformation (COrHT) program to the Mecklenburg County Pediatric Clinic in North Carolina.

Deep-rooted oral health disparities continue to hurt communities across the country, elevating the need to improve the health systems that we interact with every day. How can grantmaking accelerate those efforts?

• The prevalence of early childhood caries in American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities is three times higher than for white children.
• Black and AI/AN women are 2.9 and 2.5 times more likely, respectively, to die from pregnancy-related causes than non-Hispanic white women.
• There is growing evidence that individuals who use electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are at a higher risk for dental caries.

These are just a few key findings from three of the most popular CareQuest Institute research reports published in 2023.