News & Events

The most recent blog in our series of lessons learned from COVID-19 focuses on infection prevention and control. This post was written by Director of Analytics and Evaluation, DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement Julie Hawley, PhD, CAE, and Director of Occupational Health and Safety, The Forsyth Institute Kathy Eklund, RDH, MHP.   Read Now.

As data shows an increasing number of patients are returning to the dentist for routine care, a new tool, Dental Patient Care in the Era of COVID-19, explains to consumers how their dental experiences will be different. Oral health experts from the Organization for Safety, Asepsis and Prevention (OSAP) and the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement developed this guide to answer questions frequently asked by patients who are considering sch

DentaQuest and the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement today announced a joint $2 million commitment to the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund, created by a coalition of Black and Brown corporate leaders in Massachusetts. Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, President and CEO of the DentaQuest Partnership, is one of the fund’s founders. Click here to read more.

The DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement, a nonprofit organization working to transform the broken health care system and enable better health through oral health, announced a new collaboration with the Organization for Safety Asepsis and Prevention (OSAP), the leading provider of infection prevention and control education, training and credentialing.

The DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement, a nonprofit organization working to transform the broken health care system and enable better health through oral health, today announced a new partnership with Community Care Cooperative (C3), a first of its kind Medicaid Accountable Care Organization comprised of 19 Federally-Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) in Massachusetts. The two organizations will support FQHC dental practices to develop a layered approach to reopening, following the Commonwealth’s stay-at-home order which suspended all routine dental services.

Rebekah Mathews began a new assignment as Director of Value-based Care for the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement on December 1, 2019.

Six in 10 Americans rate oral health as either “fair,” “poor,” or “very poor,” according to independent research commissioned by DentaQuest and conducted by KRC Research. Further, more than half of patients (51%) are concerned about their oral health, making it the top health concern over heart, eye, digestive, mental, and skin health. Yet three in four Americans (75%) say they have encountered barriers to accessing dental care — chiefly cost (52%) and lack of insurance (31%).

A strong oral health safety net system is vital to meet current and future demand for oral health prevention, education and treatment for underinsured and underserved children and adults. With healthcare trending towards providing more holistic, person-centered care, federally-qualified health centers (FQHCs), community clinics, and other safety providers are poised to be hubs of innovation in developing and implementing new ways of integrating oral health into primary care. 

Following a national search, Myechia Minter-Jordan, MD, MBA, will join DentaQuest as Executive Vice President and Chief Impact Officer leading the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement in October. In her new role, Dr. Jordan will establish and drive overall strategic investments and partnerships to fulfill DentaQuest’s mission to improve the oral health of all, with a focus on systems change.

Addressing nutrition means addressing a critical social determinant of health Imagine a health care system that “recognizes the critical relationship between food and health, and ensures access to nutrition services that help prevent, manage and treat diet-related illness.” The Massachusetts Food is Medicine State Plan outlines just that.

Alison Corcoran, President of DentaQuest Partnership, talks about efforts in the Boston area to narrow the gap in access to dental care. Interview for BNN News. Aired May 31, 2019.

Families USA and the DentaQuest Partnership recently collaborated to write a Health Affairs Blog that highlights the significant disparities faced by rural elderly residents. Twenty percent report not seeing a dentist or a dental clinic for at least the last five years and they are more likely to be completely toothless and less likely to have dentures. They travel farther for services, have less access to complex treatments and have increased overall health risks.

Last week the DentaQuest Partnership participated in a webinar hosted by the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, Putting the Mouth Back in the Body, featuring leading experts on interprofessional practice. Each presenter discussed efforts to improve the integration between oral health and primary care, shared their experiences with the associated challenges, and identified opportunities that this integration will create to improve health.

The DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement is excited to host a booth at the upcoming National Oral Health Conference in Memphis, Tennessee April 15-17! The National Oral Health Conference is the premiere venue for engaging in collaboration to improve the oral health of the public, with sessions focused on issues and topics relevant to research, policy, programs, education and community-based care.  

The DentaQuest Partnership is excited to announce our first continuing education webinar of the year!