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Oral health disparities in the United States are a result of economic, educational, and social barriers faced by vulnerable and underserved individuals. The oral health care infrastructure is continuously challenged to provide access to quality care with a shortage of dental professionals and expanding oral health disparities. Federally qualified health centers (FQHC) provide oral health care in underserved communities, while schools of dentistry strive to provide students and residents with experience in underserved communities to address access to care issues and produce oral health professionals who will practice in these communities. Formal partnerships between these organizations have the potential to address oral health disparities, access to dental care and improve dental education and training. Utilizing AreGIS (ArcMAP) software, dental schools and FQHC services sites located in the continental United States were geocoded to demonstrate geographic feasibility: on average, dental schools are within 10 miles of 34 FQHC service sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the US, health care professionals are trained predominantly in uniprofessional settings independent of interprofessional education and collaboration. Yet, these professionals are tasked to work collaboratively as part of an interprofessional team in the practice environment to provide comprehensive care to complex patient populations. Although many advantages of interprofessional education have been cited in the literature, interprofessional education and collaboration present unique barriers that have challenged educators and practitioners for years. In spite of these impediments, one student-led organization has successfully implemented interprofessional education and cross-disciplinary collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for successful implementation of interprofessional education and collaboration for other student organizations, as well as for faculty and administrators. Each member of the interprofessional team brings discipline-specific expertise, allowing for a diverse team to attend to the multidimensional health needs of individual patients. The interprofessional team must organize around a common goal and work collaboratively to optimize patient outcomes. Successful interdisciplinary endeavors must address issues related to role clarity and skills regarding teamwork, communication, and conflict resolution. This conceptual framework can serve as a guide for student and health care organizations, in addition to academic institutions to produce health care professionals equipped with interdisciplinary teamwork skills to meet the changing health care demands of the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare in the United States (US) is burdened with enormous healthcare disparities associated with a variety of factors including insurance status, income, and race. Highly vulnerable populations, classified as those with complex medical problems and/or social needs, are one of the fastest growing segments within the US. Over a decade ago, the US Surgeon General publically challenged the nation to realize the importance of oral health and its relationship to general health and well-being, yet oral health disparities continue to plague the US healthcare system. Interprofessional education and teamwork has been demonstrated to improve patient outcomes and provide benefits to participating health professionals. We propose the implementation of interprofessional education and teamwork as a solution to meet the increasing oral and systemic healthcare demands of highly vulnerable US populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to The National Kidney Foundation, 20 million Americans have Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). Given the prevalence of conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, it is estimated that an additional 20 million people are at an increased risk for developing CKD. Research suggests chronic renal failure can give rise to a wide spectrum of oral manifestations affecting the hard or soft tissues of the mouth. Likewise, periodontitis may contribute to the burden of systemic inflammation in these patients. Unfortunately, CKD patients and their health care providers are often unaware of the oral complications of the disease as well as the multiple systems that can be affected. The complexity of care for patients with CKD reinforces the need for collaboration between healthcare providers. The purpose of this study was to raise oral health awareness by providing educational seminars to healthcare providers, specifically nephrology nurses. By doing so they should be able to recognize early oral manifestations, provide basic patient education, and when necessary, make referrals to address these concerns. Educational seminars entitled Oral Health and Chronic Kidney Disease were delivered by calibrated dental hygiene educators to renal nurses in three different regions in the United States. The nurse participants (n=106) were given randomly assigned pre- and post-tests, assessing their knowledge of oral health (OH) and its relation to CKD. These tests consisted of six multiple choice and four true/false questions. Pre-tests revealed that nurses had little knowledge of oral health and its relation to CKD. Regardless of questionnaire order, a significant increase of knowledge was observed for both groups (p-value ≤ 0.015), increasing from 61% to 76% on average. Incorporating interdisciplinary education, such as the educational seminar, benefits nurses’ knowledge and can potentially lead to greater quality of life outcomes and improved overall health in patients with Chronic Kidney Disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of access to oral health care in the United States for rural, underserved, uninsured, and low-income populations. There are widely recognized problems with the US health care system, including rapidly increasing costs and access to oral health. During the last decade, there has been a huge influx and push toward interprofessional education programs; however, these programs conveniently leave out dental hygiene. Interprofessional education can bring forth the collaboration, communication, and teamwork necessary to provide a comprehensive health care plan to treat oral health care needs in patients. As the advanced practice for dental hygiene emerges, it is imperative that the educational qualifications of dental hygienists are sufficient to enable them to safely provide the scope of services and care encompassed in these new expanded roles and to effectively participate as an interprofessional team member.