Looking Ahead

OKLAHOMA DENTAL FOUNDATION

Looking Ahead

By: John Wilguess, Executive Director, Oklahoma Dental Foundation

The Oklahoma Dental Foundation is the recipient of $5.1 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The Oklahoma Legislature passed the bill in late September 2022, and it was signed by Governor Kevin Stitt on October 4, 2022. The ARPA project is the largest in the 63-year history of the ODF and will dramatically impact access-to-care challenges across the state.

“This has been an amazing process,” said Dr. Michael McKinney, ODF Board President. “We initially submitted the idea to the state of Oklahoma in November 2021. We thought it was a great proposal, adding mobile clinics that are based in each part of the state. We thought we had a good chance at getting support because, after all, the state was awarding $1.8 billion. We didn’t understand at the time that thousands of requests had gone into the portal. More than $18 billion in projects!”

The ODF proposal asked for funding for additional mobile dental facilities that will be based in each quadrant of the state, one in Oklahoma City, and one in Tulsa, to provide both charitable care and act as an extension to SoonerCare for those who have coverage but no dentist in their area yet.

“We hear from 100% of our site partners throughout the state that they would like more days of treatment,” noted ODF Executive Director John Wilguess. “We used that knowledge of statewide demand to build our proposal to the state. Since SoonerCare opened dental coverage to 200,000 adults in 2021, we knew that the demand for existing practices was overwhelming. In just a casual conversation with ODA member dentists about SoonerCare expansion, the challenge of finding dental homes for 200,000 new patients was too great to solve by traditional methods. We believe the mobile facility offers the best option for creating a ‘circuit-rider’ model of dental delivery. The mobile facility will travel in predictable patterns consistently to care for those in areas without a dentist nearby. We can keep doing that until a permanent solution can be developed.”

Dr. McKinney went on to note another critical factor of this success. “The ODA committed itself to assist in having our proposal heard by the legislature. Lynn Means did a great job getting the appointments with key legislators and give John a chance to tell the story. It was a perfect example of the ODF and ODA working together to benefit those in need, improve access to Oklahoma dentists, and demonstrate to the state of Oklahoma that oral health care is vital health care.”

“With their acceptance of our proposal,” said Wilguess, “the Governor and Legislature have agreed that oral health is critical to the overall health of Oklahomans, that the ODF is uniquely positioned to deliver treatment to all parts of the state, and that Oklahoma dentistry has the recognition as being a vital partner in improving the health outcomes in our state. Overall, it has been a process that potentially helps all Oklahomans through the ODF and ODA.

Funding for the project will become available in late 2022, and the program will begin to build by early 2023.

HELP ENSURE ESSENTIAL DENTAL CARE HELP ENSURE ESSENTIAL DENTAL CARE CONTINUES IN 2025 AND BEYOND! CONTINUES IN 2025 AND BEYOND!

JOIN THE LEGACY & DONATE TODAY