The Texas Medicaid & Healthcare Partnership (TMHP) recently published new Texas Health Steps Dental Preventive Benefits.  These changes include Caries Arresting Medicament (silver diamine fluoride), Dental Education and Counseling, topical application of fluoride, dental sealants, and space maintainers.  

It is very disappointing that Texas Medicaid will only cover a single application of SDF per tooth, per lifetime, by any provider and for only ages 0-6. They have also applied this same frequency limitation to dental sealants: once per tooth, per lifetime, by any provider. 

To read about these new Texas Medicaid reimbursement changes effective September 1, 2023, please visit Texas Health Steps Dental Preventive Benefits to Change September 1, 2023. There was a correction to this article published on 8.11.2023 that may be found here.
 

TxOHC has a policy priority survey we would like to have your feedback on at  https://bit.ly/TxOHC-Survey.  Unfortunately, this survey was developed before we knew about any of the changes mentioned above, so please write in “other” or “comments”, or email me directly your thoughts on these changes and what action you would like to see TxOHC take. 
 
TxOHC Policy Priority Survey Link: https://bit.ly/TxOHC-Survey

Thank you to everyone who attended the August 18th Quarterly Member Meeting. Please find information on some events and resources discussed in the meeting below. If you are looking for upcoming local events, please visit your regional oral health coalition webpage for more information. 

• San Antonio Oral Cancer Walk 2023
  October 14, 2023 
  8:00 AM – 12:00 PM CT
  Learn more at https://ocf.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.event&eventID=848
   
• Integrating Diabetes and Oral Health Learning Collaborative
  NNOHA is recruiting health centers to participate in a Breakthrough Series Learning Collaborative on Integrating Diabetes and Oral Health (IDOH) funded through NNOHA’s National Training and Technical Assistance Partnership with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The Learning Collaborative will take place from September 2023 to June 2024 and includes 6 virtual sessions and 1 in-person session. The IDOH Learning Collaborative will use NNOHA’s systems-level framework found here to assist participating teams in adopting and implementing the oral health core clinical competencies (Risk Assessment, Oral Health Evaluation, Preventive Interventions, Communication and Education, Inter-professional Collaborative Practice) resulting in the integration of oral health and primary care and improved outcomes for health center patients.
  See this PDF for additional details. Online applications are due Tuesday, September 12, 2023.

TxOHC Monthly Webinar | Register here | September 8, 2023 | 12:00 PM CDT
Collaboration to Achieve Oral Health Promotion
Presented by: David Fray, DDS, MBA
Many dentists do not receive training in non-traditional delivery of oral health such as incremental preventive care, telehealth, collaborative behavior care and prevention-based health promotion. Without these interventions, many dentists attempt care unsuccessfully at great cost for failed appointments. Physicians, nurses and therapists frequently have limited training in oral health. Thus, they dismiss the importance of oral health to overall health and the contributions of an integrated oral health professional within a virtual health home. Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Myofunctional Therapy and Behavioral Therapy can all be accomplished virtually or in the health promotion room in a dental office to unite the collaborative health team with oral health as an included goal.

TxOHC Monthly Webinar | Register here | October 13, 2023 | 12:00 PM CDT
The Healthy Smiles Project: Increasing HPV Vaccination through Interprofessional Partnerships with Dental Hygienists
Presented by: Stacey Griner, PhD, MPH, RDH
The presentation focuses on the role that oral health providers, such as dental hygienists, may have as alternative providers of HPV vaccine recommendations. We discuss their ability to reduce missed HPV vaccine opportunities and present information about HPV vaccine uptake and oral health providers in Texas. We then discuss an ongoing project with two goals: 1) to educate dental hygienists about advocating for the HPV vaccine, and 2) increase HPV vaccine implementation into the dental setting through community-based immunization events.

The Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) requires that all oral health professionals receive didactic and/or clinical training on the oral health of persons with special health care needs. This free series of five modules, offered by the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center, provides training to help you ensure that children with special health care needs have access to health promotion and disease prevention services that address their unique oral health needs in a comprehensive, family-centered, and community-based manner.     

Go to Free Course

TxOHC Member Announcement

We are pleased to welcome the following new members since July 31, 2023.

Individual Members:

• Aparna Biradar, BDS, MPH, DPH
  Assistant Director Planning & Assessment/ Clinical Assistant Professor, Texas A&M School of Dentistry
  Coppell, TX
• Amber Stevens, RDH, Med
  Dental Hygiene Instructor, Pima Medical Institute Houston
  Richmond, TX
• Rajat Diwan, DDS
  Director of Dental Services, Lone Star Circle of Care
  Georgetown, TX
• Tina Madrigal, RDA
  Dental Assistant, St. David’s Foundation
  Austin, TX 
• Jessica Wauson, PMP
  Quality Manager, American Heart Association
  Fort Worth, TX

Cook Children’s invites our North Central Regional Oral Health Coalition members to their Oral Health Collaborative meetings via Zoom. 

• Thursday, September 28, 2023, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM CT
• Thursday, November 30, 2023, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM CT

The ASTDD Dental Public Health Policy Committee is pleased to announce the availability of a new ASTDD policy statement on Dental Amalgam and Resin-Based Composites: Environmental and Health Impacts.

“The Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors, the American Dental Association, and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry support continued judicious use of amalgam as a low-cost, high-longevity restorative product that is safe for the majority of patients, with discretionary alternative material use by dental practitioners for high-risk populations . . .  ASTDD promotes strategies for primary prevention of dental caries such as dietary counseling and treatments to remineralize dental enamel; secondary prevention of caries that incorporates minimally invasive dentistry materials and therapies; and comprehensive dental care to decrease the prevalence and severity of dental caries, thus reducing the need for dental restorative materials along with correspondingly appropriate dental office waste management.”

ASTDD is pleased to acknowledge Lydia J. DeJonge, DDS, MS, MPH, and Linda M. Kaste, DDS, MS, PhD University of Illinois Chicago, College of Dentistry for their efforts in drafting this paper.

Read the full policy statement here.

• Texas Teledentistry Guide – updated on 8.22.2023 with new additions to the FAQ section. Read more at https://txohc.org/communication/coalition-publications/tx-teledentistry-guide/.
• Dental Prescription Fact Sheet – updated on 7.19.2023 and added Antibiotic Stewardship to the back page. Read more at https://txohc.org/communication/coalition-publications/prescription-fact-sheets/.
• 2023 State Oral Health Report Card – published 6.8.2023 and added indicator trend line data on the webpage at https://txohc.org/communication/coalition-publications/texas-oral-health-report-card/.

Oral health providers may obtain 1.0 CDE for every one(1) hour of lecture. Online courses to choose from include: 

• HPV – Healthy Smiles – *NEW*
  • Framing HPV Immunization Education for Maximum Patient Acceptance
• Teledentistry
  • Teledentistry in Texas: Opportunities to Increase Access to Care
  • Selection of Teledentistry Platforms and Utilization in Alternative Care Settings
  • Available for edification only – Taking the Mystery Out of Billing for Virtual Visits
• Treating Individuals with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities (IDD)
  • Providing Dental Care under Advanced Anesthesia: Oral Sedation, IV Sedation, TIVA, IV Mac, and General Anesthesia
  • Special Conditions and Barriers and Challenges Providing Dental Care to Patients with IDD
  • Understanding and Working with Caregivers and Group Homes, Dental Desensitization/Advanced Behavior Techniques for Patients with IDD at AbSSLC
• Prescribers
  • Mental Health & Opioid Use Disorder: Using the PMP to improve patient-centered care & communication
  • Statewide Mandate Compliance Using the PMP to Provide Patient-Centered Care
  • Maximizing Your Limited Time: Navigating Challenging Patient Conversations
  • Single Use Disposal Systems (SUDS) Training for Dentists
• Prenatal
  • Maternal Depression: Signs, Facts & Resources
  • Who Do You Call: Making the Referral Connection
  • Do No Harm: The Ethics, Myths & Business of Caring for Pregnant People
• Oral Pathology
  • Oral Cancer Update
  • Oral Manifestations of Systemic Diseases and Conditions
  • Common Lesions of the Oral Cavity, from Diagnosis to Treatment
• Health Communications
  • The Power of Audience Insight
  • Using Storytelling to Engage
  • Making Data Count Building
  • Your Social Media Presence
  • Speaking Up for Fluoride

To access any of these courses, please visit https://txohc.org/education/self-instructional-webinars/.