Diverse Dentistry: Providers, Patients, Partnerships

Health Care Access

San Fernando Valley

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative

In 2020, the LA County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) in conjunction with the Oral Health Program of Los Angeles released a report detailing findings from their survey on the oral health status of LA County children under age 18. The report showed significant improvements since 2005 in the early detection and resolution of oral health decay of young children due to earlier prevention programs. While Los Angeles County children saw improvement to overall oral health, the report found that roughly half of all LA County children have experienced tooth decay before entering kindergarten. The data highlighted glaring disparities in oral health condition for children of color and those identified from socioeconomically disadvantaged settings. Also, surveys show disparities in the dental workforce with California below the national average at 8% for Blacks and Latinos. KCDC's programs work to address the health disparity for low-income children and the diversity inequity in dentistry.

KCDC programs are designed around the education, prevention, detection, intervention and restoration of tooth decay and other oral health problems for disadvantaged children in LA County while encouraging community outreach and public health awareness and by training and mentoring diversity students toward (high paying) dental careers to increase the number of diverse providers. KCDC is a child-friendly, safety net clinic and one of very few pediatric dental clinics in Southern California offering low-cost comprehensive dental care for low income, uninsured children. This funding would allow KCDC to integrate early prevention in children with workforce development starting with oral health education and eradicating decay in children and by engaging them through career talks to become dental hygienists and dentists to better serve the communities of which they are a part. Tooth decay is a serious issue in a child's health, can lead to infection and can affect overall healthy physical development and growth and yet, it is the number one chronic condition in children. Many children from socioeconomically disadvantaged situations have never been to the dentist and because tooth decay hinders a child's ability to thrive, KCDC is proposing a variety of dental programs that will result in impacting 2,342 individuals, including 2300 children, at least 38 children gaining access to dental treatments and full restoration of cavities, and training for 4 BIPOC predental students.

KCDC will continue existing local programs of providing preventative care and education (in preschool and elementary school settings). We impact children at the youngest ages, before they have decay. Dental programs lower overall decay rates of the schools where we have gone before and establish a baseline for new schools so that we can measure the decay rates in students year after year. Lowering decay has an immediate impact on attendance-dental pain from poor oral health results in 874,000 missed school days in California alone-KCDC's programs have contributed to the recent statistical improvements for LA County children's oral health but more needs to be done. Fear of dentistry is the greatest barrier to oral health but when parents and children see someone who looks like them performing the services, it greatly reduces that fear establishing better rapport. Increasing diversity in the dental workforce while expanding preventative treatments are the core of KCDC's mission.

KCDC provides free dental programs in schools to see oral health improvement. Decay rates are lowered at schools where we visit annually. Usually, in the first year of schools receiving the free program, about a third to half of the children show current, unaddressed decay -- often painful, and transmissible. We see a reduction in decay year after year until the decay rate is reduced to under 20% for the total population. Parents of children with urgent issues, and/or decay including rampant are encouraged by school staff to receive free dental care to eradicate decay. About 4% of the children, from screenings become patients. To evaluate our work, we measure the value of free services, # of urgent cases, # of children with decay, # of parental consent for preventative care, # of new patients and overall program value. We track the number of diverse predental students, # of volunteer hours, costs of training, # of admissions to dental schools.