Six Sites Will Test A New Model Of Oral Health Care Delivery Throughout Colorado

Six organizations across Colorado have been invited to participate in the SMILES Dental Project. SMILES (Spanning Miles in Linking Everyone to Services) Dental Project is a 5-year, $4.7 million initiative to pilot a new workforce model in Colorado to bring access to dental services to low-income, vulnerable and isolated Coloradans, especially children and seniors.

Registered Dental Hygienists will be integrated into community spaces to provide preventive dental care and will be linked to a dentist via tele-health technology to establish a dental home for the patient. Earlier this year, House Bill 15-1309 was passed to facilitate the adoption of this model. The new law allows a certified Registered Dental Hygienist to place interim therapeutic restorations under the supervision of a dentist, via telehealth.

The six funded sites cover 30 Colorado counties and will each receive funding to participate in a year-long planning process. That will be followed by three years of additional funding to implement new systems of providing dental service across broad geographic regions, where access to care is impeded due to geographic or socio-economic barriers to care.

The map below displays the funded sites and the communities they serve - out of the six funded organizations, five are located in rural communities.

We are thrilled to work with each site and their unique approaches: 

• Dental Aid, Inc. seeks to improve existing community based hygiene program in schools and community sites.
• Summit Community Care Clinic will implement the SMILES Dental Home by starting with school-based health centers in Leadville and from there, move towards Park County.
• Northeast Colorado Health Department, in partnership with Rural Communities Resource Center, plans to build upon school-based dental sealant programs and add in nursing home care.
• Tri-County Health Network seeks to build upon the SKIPPY program (San Juan Kids Cavity Prevention program) to add a treatment component.
• High Plains Community Health Center in partnership with Valley-Wide Health Systems, will develop the Lower Arkansas Valley SMILES Dental Home to provide dental services across a large geographical area, from Pueblo to Kansas.
• Mountain Family Health Center seeks to provide oral health services to the underserved in the West Mountain region by placing hygienists in medical sites and eventually move to community sites.

SMILES Dental Project is funded jointly by the Caring for Colorado Foundation and the Colorado Health Foundation.