Medical & Dental Professionals
Resources for Professional Education and Advocacy.
While daily clinical care is our primary focus, Access Dental Care is committed to educating medical and dental professionals. We work, along with our networking partners, to change the way special care dentistry is funded and how new dental providers are educated.
In cooperation with world-renowned researchers and academicians, we have initiated groundbreaking efforts in special care dentistry and teledentistry.
Below are resources for medical and dental professionals:
Education
Part of the Access Dental Care mission is to provide education on special care dentistry to dental providers, students, medical providers, caregivers and consumers. Dr. Bill Milner and Ms. Betsy White are invited speakers at many state and national conferences to share their expertise in special care dentistry.
Access Dental Care has strong partnerships with UNC Adams School of Dentistry, ECU School of Dental Medicine, and UNC Gillings School of Public Health. Dental students are exposed to mobile special care dentistry and both undergraduate and graduate public health students study the impacts that Access Dental Care has on the community. Atrium Health Oral Medicine Residents complete rotations with the Access Dental Care clinical teams to get hands-on experience in treating special care populations.
Some of our 2024 lectures:
Continuing Education Available
If interested, Dr. Bill Milner and/or Ms. Betsy White are available to lead educational seminars on special care dentistry for you. They are available for one to six-hour sessions at your location of choice. Their programs are practical, interactive, outcome-oriented events targeted to all health professionals.
Call Ms. White at 336-626-7232 to arrange an event or visit our contact us page.
Advocacy and Policy
Patients with special healthcare needs have a limited voice. The national recognition of Access Dental Care has given them a seat at the table for both state and national policy change. We use our twenty-plus years of data to document the need for change in regulations and payment reform. Current advocacy work includes:
Special Care Patient Payment Reform Committee, Special Care Dentistry Association
NC Institute of Medicine Oral Health Transformation Task Force
NC Department of Health and Human Services, All Ages, All Stages NC, Optimizing Health and Well-Being
NC COrHT (Community Oral Health Transformation)
North Carolina Institute of Medicine’s report on Transforming Oral Health Care in North Carolina. Click the image to view the full report. Research
As the population ages, the number of older adults living with physical, medical, behavioral and cognitive disabilities is increasing. Information about special care populations and how best to provide care and improve their oral health is sparse. Because Access Dental Care (ADC) has been providing care in North Carolina for decades, the data they have collected can serve as a rich laboratory for health services research.
Most recently, under the leadership of Dr. Jane Weintraub, ADC collaborated with the UNC Adams School of Dentistry to conduct a teledentistry research project funded by the CareQuest Institute. The goal was to determine the level of agreement between treatment need decisions determined by an on-site dentist’s initial exam to the exam findings of a dentist using asynchronous teledentistry (manuscript submitted under review).
In 2023, ADC was one of 14 clinics in North Carolina selected to participate in the Community Oral Health Transformation (COrHT) initiative co-sponsored by the CareQuest Institute, NC BCBS Foundation and the NC Oral Health Collaborative. This project focused on value-based care using telehealth, minimally invasive care and person-centered planning. We continue to work with this group to develop patient/caregiver feedback surveys for quality improvement measures.
Currently, ADC is collecting data to explore reimbursement for care coordination and the extra time and effort it takes to care successfully for patients with complex medical and behavioral conditions. This information will have important policy implications for future reimbursement of these services.
CareQuest’s Three Domain Framework is a roadmap for a new model in dentistry that is more cost-effective, efficient, and equitable. Click the image to view their report.
Career Opportunities With Access Dental Care
Due to our continued growth, we are always interested in speaking with professionals interested in joining our unique, highly-skilled staff.
We are rapidly expanding into new regions of North Carolina and beyond. Please check the information listed for current openings. If interested, follow the instructions to begin the application process.