Oral Health Workforce
Advancing Population Oral Health Through Workforce Opportunities
The purpose of our proposed oral health workforce grant is to strengthen and enhance the vulnerable dental safety net in the most underserved region of South Carolina. Our purpose will be achieved through four goals:
- Improved recruitment and retention of private practice, safety net and National Health Service Corps dentists in the Pee Dee region
- Improved oral health of children through the integration of oral health interprofessional services in an existing primary care school-based telehealth program
- Increased number of children with special health care needs who have access to continuous, high quality oral health care services
- Improved availability and efficiencies of interprofessional pediatric oral health services through an innovative Public Health Regional Oral Health Systems Coordinator (ROHSC).
Workforce Programs
Rural Oral Health Advancements in Delivery Systems (ROADS)
ROADS is an Oral Health Workforce cooperative agreement. Its purpose is to reduce rural oral health disparities experienced by children and high-risk adults with diabetes through medical-dental integration that emphasizes improvements in preventive care and system performance. It is companion funding to a contract received by the DentaQuest Institute.
Special Adult Need Dentistry (SANDS)
SANDS is a dental network for adults with disabilities so that access to care is improved for those living in the coastal, rural communities of South Carolina. Centered around a Concierge at the Medical University of South Carolina, SANDS is supporting private practice dental partners through telehealth consultations and care planning as well as care coordination for adults on Intellectual Disability/Related Disabilities Waiver through Medicaid.