When we think about healthcare in general,
oral health is often a secondary consideration. Yet oral healthcare is the most common unmet health need. Patients often face barriers to accessing oral healthcare including an inadequate supply of oral health providers, suboptimal insurance coverage, and a lack of understanding of the link between oral health and overall health. Oral diseases are often preventable, but if left untreated they can lead to other serious complications. As a result, primary care providers can play a pivotal role in the oral healthcare of their patients.
The
integration of oral health and primary care provides an opportunity to educate both primary care providers and patients about the importance of good oral hygiene and oral care in maintaining general health.
Health centers and free clinics can facilitate this process by implementing these practices:
| Gain
leadership support to guide the organization on the importance of oral health, ensure that resources are available, clarify roles and responsibilities, and make sure each staff member understands the importance of his or her contributions and communicates the vision regarding
integration of the dental home and the patient-centered
health home. |
|
| Adopt a healthcare
delivery model that integrates oral healthcare and primary care. Evaluate the current
models and workflow to ensure a
simplified process to improve accountability for oral health activities among the healthcare team. |
|
| Provide training programs based on
oral health core clinical competencies that are available for primary care providers. Educational resources can be found through web-based training modules on the
national oral health curriculum,
oral health across the life span, and
early childhood oral health. |
|
| Perform age-appropriate oral health risk assessments on all patients (children and
adults) to identify risk factors that impact oral health. |
|
| Conduct an
oral evaluation or screening in the mouth to identify clinical signs of oral disease. |
|
| Identify preventive interventions to address oral health needs identified during the risk assessment and
oral screening and implement preventive interventions, such as
fluoride varnish, oral hygiene education, and referral of patients with high-risk or untreated dental disease to a dentist. |
|
| Provide support to the healthcare workforce by assigning a point person as the referral or
oral health coordinator and by creating centralized tracking and coordinated oversight of dental referrals. |
|
| For health centers that do not have dental clinics, develop a referral network that includes
contracts/agreements with local private dental providers. |
|
| For health centers with medical and dental clinics on the same site ("co-location"), hold routine staff meetings that include dental staff to ensure that open communication is maintained, that care and service delivery are aligned, and that patients receive the right service, at the right time, in the right context. |
|
| Leverage
health information technology to integrate dental and medical records and to support and facilitate referrals, information sharing, and follow-up with clinicians to
improve oral health outcomes. |
|
| Communicate and educate patients and parents about the importance of oral health and how to maintain good oral health, which includes nutrition,
self-care management, and addressing patients' perceived oral health barriers. Take into account
oral health literacy and
cultural competency when communicating with patients and parents. |
|
| Validate the effectiveness of the oral health core clinical competencies and foster ongoing quality improvement by assessing patient satisfaction and health outcomes. Create a common
set of safety metrics that reflect meaningful outcomes and
quality improvements for both medical and dental services. |
Want to learn more? Refer to Get Safe! Taking a Good History and Physical in the Primary Care Setting and the guidance article Managing Administrative Risks on the Clinical Risk Management website provided FREE by ECRI Institute on behalf of HRSA. Don't have access or want to attend a free, live demonstration of the website? E-mail Clinical_RM_Program@ecri.org or call (610) 825-6000, ext. 5200.
Information provided by ECRI Institute is intended as guidance to be used consistent with the internal needs of your organization. This information is not to be viewed as required by ECRI Institute or the Health Resources and Services Administration.