Publications

In 2016, the California Department of Health Care Services launched the Dental Transformation Initiative (DTI) to address statewide underperformance in providing dental services to Medicaid-eligible children and youth. The DTI allowed selected counties and other qualified organizations to create Local Dental Pilot Programs (LDPP) to enhance service utilization. Alameda County began Healthy Teeth Healthy Communities (HTHC), a multicomponent LDPP featuring community-based dental care coordination augmented with general dentist training in care for young children. The examination showed that HTHC dental care coordination successfully connected thousands of underserved children and youth with dental care, per program objective. However, additional, larger-scale programs are required for greater impact. Out of > 150,000 child and youth Medi-Cal beneficiaries countywide, only 47% attended a dental visit in 2019.