Resource Center

Monday, August 10, 2009
Oral Health Forum

Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Oral Health In New Hampshire

In 1999, the Endowment for Health was formed and embarked on a process to identify primary focus areas. One of these was oral health. From 2001 to 2007, the Endowment invested $4.9 million dollars in 68 projects that included new service delivery models, infrastructure strengthening, coalition building, public awareness building, and leadership development. The evolution of the Endowment's work in oral health in many ways reflects the early growth of the young foundation and provides many lessons. Measuring the impact on as large an issue as Oral Health in New Hampshire is a challenge and no one organization can "cause" change. However, this report examines several oral health measures that point to collective success.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Reimbursing Medical Providers For Preventive Oral Health Services

Tooth decay, while highly preventable, is the most common chronic disease among children and it disproportionately affects children from families with low incomes. Thirty-five state Medicaid agencies are working to increase children's access to preventive oral health services by reimbursing primary care medical providers for a variety of services. Based on the results of a 50-state survey and recommendations from national experts, the National Academy for State Health Policy, with the support of the Pew Children's Dental Campaign, selected five states to interview about their Medicaid reimbursement policies for preventive oral health services: Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Utah, and Washington. This report draws on the experiences of those states.

Thursday, April 02, 2009
Oral Health Education Program

The Oral Health Education Program was created for Wentworth-Douglass Hospital's Seacoast Cancer Center and Wound Healing Institute. The publication includes surveys, patient data, oral health product recommendations, oral hygiene instructions and information for family dentists. As more and more patients were treated in the Dental Center, it became evident to the staff that many struggle with chronic or serious medical issues. In addition, WDH staff realized that patients undergoing specialty medical care were adversely impacted due to oral health issues.

Monday, June 01, 2009
Ambulatory Care Sensitive Emergency Department Visits -- Chronic Disease Conditions

Emergency Department personnel deal not only with individuals requiring immediate and necessary medical care but also with preventable and non-emergent visits that may be managed by primary care providers. Not all ED-preventable visits are completely unavoidable. In some cases, even the best care can't prevent the progression of a health condition to a state that requires an ED visit and possibly hospitalization. This study looks at ED visits for chronic disease conditions. Of particular note is the increase in ED rates for dental conditions.

Friday, January 01, 2010
Dental Services and Workforce in New Hampshire

This paper provides an overview of the currently available data on access to dental services and the availability of dental providers across the state. This report will also review, to the extent possible, the implications of workforce on those with Medicaid coverage and the uninsured and will raise questions regarding whether the current dental workforce providing care for this population is sufficient to meet the state’s needs.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The Cost of Delay: State Dental Policies Fail One in Five Children

An estimated 17 million low-income children in America go without dental care each year. This represents one out of every five children between the ages of 1 and 18 in the United States. Twice as many Americans lack dental insurance as lack health insurance. The $106 billion that Americans are expected to spend on dental care in 2010 includes many expensive treatments -- from fillings to root canals -- that could be mitigated or avoided altogether through earlier, cheaper and easier ways of ensuring adequate dental care for kids. States do not have to start from scratch. A number already have implemented effective approaches. Too many, however, have not. Pew's analysis shows that about two-thirds of states do not have key policies in place to ensure proper dental health access to care for children most in need.

Monday, February 12, 2007
New Hampshire Nursing Home Oral Health Survey

In order to better understand New Hampshire nursing home residents' access to dental services, the Endowment for Health provided a grant to develop and administer a survey of state nursing homes. The purpose of the survey was to gather information for nursing home administrators about dental services provided to nursing home residents and how these needs may be better met in the future.

Tuesday, July 01, 2003
New Hampshire Oral Health Plan

New Hampshire has been ranked as one of the healthiest and wealthiest states in the nation, and is seen by many as relatively homogeneous and problem free. This veneer belies the fact that access to oral health care varies greatly across the state, and oral diseases are a devastating problem among a significant percentage of New Hampshire residents, affecting their overall health and ability to work and learn. While much oral disease is preventable, many in New Hampshire lack access to the basic services that could help them avoid oral pain, infection and dysfunction, dental caries (tooth decay), tooth loss and other oral health problems. Over the past decade, efforts have been made to address these concerns with some measure of success. But these initiatives have had limited effectiveness because of the lack of a comprehensive, coordinated appproach among funders and policymakers to addressing the problem. The vision of the coalition: Residents of New Hampshire will have the opportunity to achieve and maintain oral health through access to an effective system of health services which promotes appropriate health behaviors. These services, which include assessment, prevention, health promotion, education, counseling, and treatment, will be provided through an integrated system of health care that assures accessibility, affordability, high quality, appropriateness of individuals' needs, and responsiveness to individuals' circumstances.