Working to improve access to dental care
The April 25 article, "Dental Care Is Lacking for Scores of Iowans," drew attention to the serious issue of lack of access, but unfortunately drew few conclusions and neglected to mention numerous dentists, dental professionals, agencies and businesses that are working hard to improve oral health care for all Iowans.
Delta Dental Plan of Iowa, in collaboration with the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, Iowa Department of Public Health and the Iowa Dental Association, has developed and funded several programs to address the needs of underserved groups.
These efforts include loan-repayment grants to encourage private-practice dentists to locate and stay in small-town Iowa; oral health-education programs for parents through Head Start; free language-interpretation services to overcome language barriers; donated dental-services programs for people with disabilities; oral-cancer awareness programs; and donations of dental-accident insurance for inner-city schoolchildren.
Through its Public Benefit program, Delta Dental annually offers dental-education loan-repayment grants to private-practice dentists who commit to practice in critical dental-shortage areas of Iowa and allocate at least one-third of their practice to patients who are considered under- served (Medicaid, disabled, refugees and elderly).
This year, Delta Dental expanded this program to offer an additional $150,000 in grants that focus on critical-shortage counties with the stipulation that local communities generate matching funds to further stimulate the program's development.
-Donn Hutchins,
president and CEO,
Delta Dental Plan of Iowa,
Ankeny.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050507/OPINION04/505070311/1035/archive
