11 May 2022

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Delta Dental to address elder oral care

Katherine E. Pfaff

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Delta Dental Community Care Foundation has begun a program to fund community groups in order to improve knowledge of and access to oral health care for elderly. The age group is considered the most vulnerable and least treated in the US, according to a new report from NIH. 

Through the program, collaborators will work to highlight the importance of oral health in managing overall health, improving access and outcomes, ensuring equitable access to care, and ensuring quality access to oral care for elderly patients. The effort by Delta Dental’s philanthropic entity will begin by working with Mary’s Center and Howard University College of Dentistry.

"Through Delta Dental's decades of experience in the oral health care sector, we know that the unmet oral health needs of older adults represent a public health crisis and a serious gap in America's health ecosystem," said Kenzie Ferguson, vice president of foundation and corporate social responsibility for Delta Dental of California. "Through this program, the Delta Dental Community Care Foundation and its partners are focused on providing support for the most vulnerable group of seniors – those living in poverty, people of color and those whose mobility issues keep them from receiving oral health care."

On a wider scale, the program aims to investigate and address systemic issues of inadequate access to oral healthcare and build on community-based initiatives. The program plans to expand its collaborators a the program gross across the next 3 to 5 years.

"For more than 10 years, the Delta Dental Community Care Foundation has supported the College of Dentistry and our programs of improving access to care to the underserved," said Andrea D. Jackson, dean of the Howard University College of Dentistry. "Their generous philanthropic contribution addresses the critical issue in providing oral health care to our senior population. We are excited to partner with the Delta Dental foundation and Mary's Center to collectively focus on reaching the 

Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/delta-dental-community-care-foundation-launches-multi-year-funding-program-to-address-national-oral-health-care-crisis-among-older-adults-301532809.html