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In 2004, The Commission on Dental Accreditation adopted new standards for dental and dental hygiene education programs to ensure the preparation of practitioners to provide oral health services for persons with special health care needs. The course of action leading to the adoption of the new standards, together with the continuing obstacles of limited government support for dental services and the availability of faculty members to provide the needed dental educational experiences is reviewed. Expanding Health Resources and Services Administration definition of medically underserved areas is presented as one approach to improving the delivery of dental services.

This is an empirical study of contemporary public financial support for disability in the United States. Public support for disability programs in the United States totaled dollars 294 billion in 1997 (41.5 million recipients) and was estimated to be dollars 426 billion in 2002. Nationally, 52% of public long-term care financial resources supported persons with disabilities in institutions, although great variation existed among states and across disability groups (i.e., mental retardation, mental illness, physical disability). State financial commitments for community long-term care services for each of the three disability groups was strongly associated with state participation in the Medicaid HCBS Waiver and Personal Assistance programs and for persons with MR/DD, with states' early adoption of civil rights statutes promoting racial equality.