Community of Practice for Dental Providers Serving Children on Medi-Cal Dental: Needs and Progress in Alameda County

ABSTRACT

Background

California has a shortage of dentists able and willing to treat children in the Medi-Cal Dental Program. A dental community of practice (DCOP) model was used in Alameda County to increase provider skills and capacity and to support their Medi-Cal program participation. This paper describes the Alameda County DCOP and the experiences of the participating dental providers.

Methods

Dental providers were invited to join the DCOP and receive program benefits in exchange for accepting children from the Medi-Cal Dental Program in their practice. A mixed-methods study utilizing surveys and focus groups with participating dental providers was conducted, assessing and documenting their experiences, benefits and challenges of participating in the DCOP.

Results

The DCOP program enrolled 169 dental providers and delivered 14 C.E. courses (49 total C.E. units). Additionally, 132 dental providers completed Wave 1 surveys, and 42 providers completed Wave 2. The majority (68%) felt participating in the DCOP increased their capacity to serve children under age 5 in the Medi-Cal Dental Program. Eight focus groups were conducted with 47 dental providers. Focus groups discussed preferred C.E. topics, serving children in the Medi-Cal Dental Program, community dental care coordinators (CDCCs), family oral health education (FOHE), and the emergent theme of building community among dental providers.

Conclusion

Dental providers felt participating in the DCOP helped increase their capacity and confidence to serve low-income children. They also felt there was value in uniting with colleagues in a community dedicated to improving children’s oral health.

KEYWORDS:

• Community of practice
• children’s dental health
• dental public health
• Medi-Cal Dental
• dental workforce

Acknowledgment

Healthy Teeth Healthy Communities (HTHC) is a project (Domain 4) of the Local Dental Pilot Program (LDPP) under the Dental Transformation Initiative (DTI), funded by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). The authors thank the leadership and Office of Dental Health of Alameda County for their constant support for this Project. They also thank Bahar Amanzadeh, principal project architect and lead author, Lisa Haefele, and others for their role in writing the grant that supported this work, and Claudia Guerra for assistance with focus group data collection.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the California Department of Health Care Services [Dental Transformation Initiative (DTI)].

Notes on contributors

Kristin S. Hoeft

Kristin S. Hoeft, MPH, PhD, is an associate professor of oral epidemiology and dental public health at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Dentistry.

Yilak Fantaye

Yilak Fantaye, MPH, is with community assessment, planning and evaluation at the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, Public Health Department.

Benjamin W. Chaffee

Benjamin W. Chaffee, DDS, MPH, PhD, is professor of oral epidemiology and dental public health at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Dentistry.

Suhaila Khan

Suhaila Khan, MD, MPH, PhD, is the past project director of Healthy Teeth Healthy Communities of the Office of Dental Health, Alameda County Public Health Department.

Elizabeth Maker

Elizabeth Maker, DrPH, is Evaluation Manager at the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, Public Health Department.

Tracey Andrews

Tracey Andrews, RDH, MPH, is a Tobacco Control Program Specialist at the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, Public Health Department.

Ray Stewart

Ray Stewart, DMD, MS, is professor and chair of the division of pediatric dentistry at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Dentistry.

Ling Zhan

Ling Zhan, DDS, PhD, is a professor and chair of the division of pediatric dentistry at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Dentistry.

Bhavana Ravi

Bhavana Ravi, DDS, MPH, is a general dentist in private practice. She previously served as Training Manager of the Dental Community of Practice within the Alameda County Public Health Department.

Jared Fine

Jared I. Fine, DDS, MPH, is a dental public health consultant and former dental health administrator at the Alameda County Public Health Department.