Participants should be aware of the following financial/non-financial relationships: . Siddardha Chandrupatla, BDS,MMSc, FICD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Rural America is home to nearly a quarter of the US population. Individuals living in rural areas face disproportionate difficulty in accessing healthcare services which have led to disparities in their health and wellbeing. Oral health is an integral component of systemic health and overall well-being. Unfortunately, rural communities face several barriers related to access to oral health care and utilization of services as well, including a shortage of dental professionals, lack of dentists who accept public insurance such as Medicaid and Medicare, transportation, and general lack of oral health knowledge and awareness. Profound disparities exist in oral health conditions as well as access to oral health care. Studies show that rural adults in comparison to their urban counterparts, are significantly more likely to have untreated dental caries, suffer from higher prevalence of periodontal disease and are almost twice as likely to be edentulous. With rural populations having limited economic resources and lack of dental professionals, there is a need to implement evidence-based programs, identify innovative plans, and adopt necessary policy changes to help provide resources to these rural communities. This roundtable will discuss new approaches and policies such as medical –dental integration, teledentistry, and expanding scope of practice to improve access to oral health care in rural communities and identify pathways to address access and utilization of oral health care in rural communities.
