Searching for Solutions - New Mexico's Oral Health Gap

Thousands of New Mexicans – many of them children and senior citizens – cannot get access to needed dental care.  As a result, some are forced to live in pain, miss school or work and, in extreme cases, face life threatening medical emergencies.  Lack of dental care can lead to poor nutrition, lower performance in school, serious infections and sometimes even death.  Low income adults frequently use hospital emergency rooms for dental problems.  They have no other choice.  Oral health gaps in New Mexico include:

• New Mexico ranks 49^th in the nation for the number of dentists per capita.
• 6 counties in New Mexico have no dentists.
• 29 of 33 counties in New Mexico do not have enough dentists to serve their communities.
• It would take more than 1,000 more practitioners (dentists, dental hygienists and dental assistants) to meet the needs for all New Mexicans.

New Mexico's Oral Health Initiative
Con Alma Health Foundation, in partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, is continuing our long-standing commitment to improve the health status and access to health care services for all and to advocate for a health policy to address the health needs of all New Mexicans.

Con Alma Health Foundation's intent with the New Mexico Oral Health Initiative was to begin the dialogue to determine the need and public will for a mid-level oral health practitioner model in New Mexico and to raise the awareness of New Mexico's oral health gaps.  The initiative’s aim was to help determine the unmet dental health needs of Mexico children and families, especially disadvantaged populations in rural and geographically remote communities.

Resources

After more than a year of stakeholder meetings, convenings and community forums, Con Alma Health Foundation has released a Key Findings Report on New Mexico's Oral Health Gap.  Read the report here.

4 Fact Sheets by New Mexico Voices for Children:

• History of New Mexico’s past oral health legislative efforts
• Identification of current New Mexico oral health education and training programs
• Review of other state's efforts in creating a mid-level oral health practitioner model
• Identification of treatment and preventive oral health needs in underserved New Mexico areas

Watch a video about Dental Health Aide Therapists in Alaska – could a model similar to this work in New Mexico? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJSpUQd000k