Western NC
Strategic Focus
The Facts
Membership
WNC Oral Health Collaborative
NCOHC’s Western North Carolina Oral Health Collaborative, formerly the WNC Children’s Oral Health Initiative, works to improve the oral health of children in Western North Carolina. The steering committee includes oral health and medical providers, community partners, and other stakeholders.
Strategic Focus
- Increase health care integration by facilitating collaboration among dental, medical, and public health providers, encouraging preventive care and a dental home for all children on Medicaid.
- Expand access to oral health care for rural children, children in communities of color, and children living in poverty.
- Enhance oral health literacy for families, policymakers, and providers.
- And much more.
The Facts About Children’s Oral Health in WNC
- Only 41.8 percent of third graders in WNC are free from tooth decay, compared to 54.5 percent across North Carolina (NC Oral Health Section, 2020)
- 42.5 percent of Medicaid-eligible children aged 1-2 years in WNC received preventive oral health care, compared to 51 percent statewide (NC Oral Health Section, 2020)
- There is a maldistribution of dentists in WNC. On average there are only 3.65 dentists per 10,000 people, less than the North Carolina average of 5 dentists per 10,000 people (UNC Shep Center).
Why Do Fewer WNC Children Have Access to Care?
People experience barriers to accessing oral health care at three stages. Many see barriers that prevent them from even seeking care in the first place. Once an individual has sought out care, there are still more barriers, preventing them from reaching and receiving the services they need.
- Key barriers to seeking care include dental anxiety, oral health literacy, parents’ oral health and stigma, lack of coordination between physicians and dentists, and misinformation about the recommended age of first dental visit.
- Key barriers to reaching care include structural realities of poverty, cost of care, transportation, distance to care, lack of dentists in rural areas, few providers who accept Medicaid or Health Choice, few providers who serve infants and toddlers, and scarcity of hospital-based services and specialty care.
- Key barries to receiving care include negative dental office experience related to race, ethnicity, income, and insurance status; physician challenges incorporating oral health care; limited data on best practices; limited care that leaves children without a dental home; lack of comprehensive services; and language barriers.
WNC Oral Health Collaborative Membership
- Mellie Burns | Cherokee Public Health and Human Services
- Dr. Bill Chambers | Great Beginings/Great Smiles
- Dr. Benjamin Cozart | Blue Ridge Health
- Dr. Letitia “Tish” Ballance | Carolina West Dental
- Erin Braasch | WNC Health Network
- Dr. Katherine Jowers | MAHEC
- Dr. Bob Manga | ECU School of Dental Medicine, Sylva Community Service Learning Center
- Phyllis Davis | Retired, NCDHHS Oral Health Section
- Dr. Stephanie Sabatini | Blue Ridge Health
- Dr. Alex Green | AppHealthCare
- Dr. Nicole Groves | Advent Health
- Dr. Christine Shook | Cherokee Indian Hospital
- Dr. Susan Mims | Dogwood Health Trust
- Lori Nicholson | NCDHHS Oral Health Section
- Kristal Cherry | NCDHHS Oral Health Section
- Emily Horney | NC DHHS Oral Health Section
- Heather Stansberry | High Country Community Health
- Rhonda Stephens | UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
- Brian Huskey | Great Smokies Health Foundation
- Dr. Madison Crumley | Arden Premier Dentistry
- Channah VanRegenmorter | Dogwood Health Trust
- Natalie Raper | MAHEC
- Theresa Nazha | MAHEC
- Kim Boyd-Thompson | Willow Creek Dental Center
- Delia Landing | MAHEC
- Jeanette Willis | Blue Ridge Health
- Clarissa Rogers | Clay County Health Department
- Alice Salthouse | High Country Community Health
- Kasee Metcalf | WNC Community Health Services
- Rory Frederick | Graham County Health Department
- Abra Brooks | Southwestern Community College
- Tim Evans | Mountain Community Health Partnership
- Leigh Ann Byrd | High Country Community Health
- Debbie Mauney | Clay County Health Department
- Candace Winters | Mountain Community Health Partnership
- Jon Jones | ECU School of Dental Medicine
- Thomas Tempel | ECU School of Dental Medicine
- Marguerite van der Vorst | Mountain Community Health Partnership
- Alex Howard | Dogwood Health Trust
- Margarita Gonzalez | Dogwood Health Trust
- Mark Constantine | Dogwood Health Trust
- Carrie Pettler | Community Health Network of WNC
- Cindy Ashley | Wilkes Public Health Dental Clinic
- Brandon Washington | NCDHHS
- Arden Jolly | Wilkes Public Health Dental Clinic
- Debbie Mauney | Clay County, NC
- Dr. Halcyon Innis | High Country Community Health
- Dr. Frank Courts | AppHealthCare
- Dr. Amanda Stroud | AppHealthCare
- Rebecca Worley | MAHEC
- Ashley Crenshaw | Maryland Community College
- Diana Garlough | ECU School of Dental Medicine, Sylva Community Service Learning Center