Virtual Dental Homes : Will They Be The Wave Of The Future? Essay

In the United States, a renewed interest occurred in telehealth in the 1990s according to McGonigle and Mastrian because of escalating costs, the need for greater access for all

Grants have a great value in providing dental care in community health centers particularly dental clinics that represent a large public investment to address the dental health needs of a diverse underserved rural and urban communities, and uninsured populations. The grants that fund community health centers play a critical role in financial support to provide dental services for patients in Medicaid non-expansion states who are more likely to be uninsured. Grant funding enables community health centers to provide services not covered by most programs, such as adult dental care, transportation, translation services, and use sliding fees for privately insured patients who cannot afford their deductibles and cost-sharing (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2017).

This year, the topic for our dental capstone project is to solve a problem in the dental field through informing the community. We figured that most people aren’t completely aware of the different specialties of dentistry. It is common to visit the general dentist every 6 months for teeth cleaning, but many people don’t know about oral and maxillofacial surgeons, or pedodontists, etc. Our purpose for this capstone project is to educate the public on the differences between the several dental specialties. By creating 3-Dimensional models of each dental office, we are able to demonstrate the uniqueness and purpose of each specialty.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how technology has impacted the health care delivery system. Health care technology is advancing at an increasingly rapid rate in the United States, and globally. Patients and providers are witnessing these changes through the use of telehealth, and telemedicine applications. Telehealth, and telemedicine are often used interchangeably, however there is a difference between the two applications. Telehealth is the use of technology to deliver health care, health information, or health education at a distance (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.).

As the number of older Americans continue to rise, along with dental practitioners who are entering retirement, it would benefit this under-served population for the dental profession to develop new models of mid- level care. To expand training as well as additional licensing for dental hygienists, along with more training for other health care professionals would be a great beginning towards improved access to care (Overview of oral health,

It is important that we have this knowledge and constantly build on it because there still isn’t any valid ground. We can say “we think this can happen” but as more studies come out we can change that thought or idea into a valid explanation. Although you can’t convince every person into believing something, having proof behind your explanation is going to be more persuasive than just stating what you’ve heard.

In Dr. Parson’s presentation, I learned that there are still many seniors with out dental insurance. This is sad because the population by 2030 is going to double and more will eventually need treatment done by a dentist. According to her presentation oral care is not a concern to the nursing home staff. Some families show up to brush their family members teeth. With the limited financial resources for dental care these patients have it is one of their barriers to getting treatment done if needed or even cleaning. Therefore, we as dental hygienist can help make a difference by going out to the community and offering dental care education to the nursing staff because they must first know how to take care of their oral health before taking care

Many of these barriers exist from lack of essentially knowing the benefits of what the incorporation of telehealth can offer within the aspect of this type of community. At times, there has been a great interest in telehealth surrounding its potential to reduce health care costs along with the improvement of patient outcomes, but at times there has been no known scientific evidence base underpinning it (McLean, Sheikh, Cresswell, Nurmmatov, Mukherjee, Hemmi & Pagilari, 2013).

While most of the patients I interacted with were seeking non-dental care, I met patients who were seeking care to health conditions that stem from their oral health such as oral abscesses, which our team was unable to treat except for prescribing antibiotics or painkillers. I encountered similar situations when I shadowed physicians in the emergency room of hospitals, observing a variety of craniofacial disorders originating from a preventable tooth decay. From these observations, I learned that patients often did not receive treatment that addressed the root of their problems: their oral health. As the result, I learned that many physicians saw the same patient repeatedly for problems that would otherwise be easily prevented through proper preventive dental care. Determining to address the unmet needs for accessible preventive dental care, I decided to pursue a career in dentistry so that I can provide a positive and meaningful impact to the underserved community on their oral health and ultimately their overall

This has a number of perceived benefits such as being able to provide additional public dental care by expanding the public dental labour force significantly3. In particular, this is envisioned to allow for greater access to public dental care in rural areas3. The NHHRC report has suggested that this would also allow for graduate dentists to expand their skill set in an environment where they have more supervision and support before they potentially work independently in the private system1,2. Furthermore, the Department of Health suggests that this also might increase the retention of graduate dentists in the public sector, citing the high retention rate with the Voluntary Dental Graduate Year

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Molly Koopman, Expanded Function Dental Assisting Program, Miami Jacobs Career College, Springboro, OH 45066

Dental hygiene plays an important role in oneś life, from infanthood to elderhood oral health is a visual into healthy bodies. Throughout one’s life annual dentist visits are a need to keep a mouth fresh and disease free. Looking back into my own childhood and the first visit, I was happy to be there. In fact, I found this new adventure in the dentist office better than being in a doctor's. Being a small child and coming into the office for a check up, the first face I saw was a dental hygienist. That meeting later motivated me to do all my studying to become one myself.

According to the World Health Organization, “Worldwide, 60-90% of school children and nearly 100% of adults have dental cavities.”

With fondness, I will always remember when I first began to consider dentistry as a future profession. My childhood mentor Dr. Spigner was having a weekend workshop for his patients, at this moment, I was exposed to dental education at its full capacity. While there we learned how to properly brush and floss our teeth, the benefits of tooth hygiene, and how fillings are applied to adolescent teeth. After learning these helpful tips, I wanted to share my newfound information about the importance of

Although many Americans have good oral hygiene due to fluoride and making everyday good decisions, others do not have any access at all to oral health care. Over the years, dentists have been trying to demonstrate the importance of oral care. (“Access to Dental Care”) From commercials to campaigns, dentists will continue to demonstrate to their patients as well as to the people who don't have insurance the importance of oral health care. They will teach them preventative care and some techniques on how to prevent from getting any diseases.