Dental Care Access

DENTAL CARE ACCESS

Access to dental services is a prerequisite for the control of oral disease in susceptible or highrisk populations. The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) access to dental care measure is currently aligned with Healthy People (HP)* 2020 measure of the percentage of patients who have visited the dentist within the previous 12-months.12

GPRA results from 2019 reported slightly higher percentages, compared to the 2018 GPRA results of AI/AN patients that received dental services in the previous year in the OKC Area.2 The 2019 GPRA results showed the national percentage of AI/AN patients who had received dental services in the past year had increased from the previous 2018 report.2, 12 The national 2019 GPRA target for this indicator was 27%.2, 12 The HP2020 goal for this measure is 49%.14 The percentage of AI/AN children, adolescents, and adults who visited the dentist, within the IHS system in the past year, was more than 13% lower than that of the general U.S. population.14

*It is important to note when HP 2020 statistics are referred to in this report for the general U.S. population, these figures come from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) estimates.