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Oral disease has become what many experts now call "the silent epidemic," causing chronic suffering for millions of people and disproportionately affecting low-income families, minorities and the elderly. Studies in recent years reveal disturbing statistical evidence. For example, dental caries (tooth decay) is now the single most common chronic childhood disease-five times more common than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever. Millions of young children are regularly kept awake at night with pain caused by dental caries and oral disease. In California , the epidemic of oral disease is even worse. Among children 6-8 years of age, 55% have untreated tooth decay, more than twice the national average for this age group. Children of California 's minority populations have even higher rates of untreated decay.

 

Experts cite a complex interaction of factors as the cause of California 's oral disease epidemic. These include a declining number of practicing dental professionals; lack of economic incentives for dental professionals to serve low-income populations; poor coordination between providers of primary care and dental care; massive numbers of people with no dental insurance; insufficient amounts of public funding for dental care; inefficient use of available resources; lack of public awareness about ways to prevent oral disease; lack of understanding of oral health issues by policymakers; and lack of effective government policy to correct these problems.

 

The Oral Health Access Initiative (OHAI) and the Oral Health Access Council (OHAC)

In 2001, California Primary Care Association (CPCA) and the Dental Health Foundation (DHF) together launched the Oral Health Access Initiative (OHAI), a major campaign aimed at solving California 's oral disease epidemic. OHAI is a multi-lateral, non-partisan effort directed toward improving the oral health status of the state's traditionally underserved and vulnerable populations. The Oral Health Access Council (OHAC) is the deliberative body of OHAI. With a membership of over 25 organizations representing a diversity of oral health stakeholders, OHAC has become California 's most broad-based and unified voice for oral health. It is significant to note that OHAC is not simply an advisory group-it is an action-oriented organization whose members are committed to accomplishing the work necessary to bring about systemic change that will improve the oral health status of underserved Californians.

 

Initial funding for OHAI was provided by the California Wellness Foundation, the California Health Care Foundation, and The California Endowment. OHAI creates a focal point that brings together a broad coalition of the diverse oral health stakeholders in California - a coalition that had never been previously organized. OHAI is a multi-lateral and non-partisan effort directed toward:

• Bringing California 's ongoing oral health crisis and its costly consequences to the attention of those who can help resolve that crisis;
• Improving the oral health status of underserved and vulnerable population groups by increasing the capacity of California's public and private primary care safety net system to deliver preventive and restorative oral health services;
• Identifying the systemic impediments to adequate oral health care and developing strategies for addressing those impediments; and
• Developing and implementing major public policies and legislation aimed at reducing disparities in access to oral health care in California .

 

For more information about OHAC, please contact lmccarthy@cpca.org.

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