Dental Champions - Oral Health Kansas

07/23/2025

This month, Sonia Olmos is celebrating her 10-year anniversary as OHK’s Operations and Communications Manager. Sonia manages the Weekly Wednesday Update newsletter, OHK’s website and social media along with other projects that she jumps in to help with. “Ten years has flown by, and I love working with people who I learn from every single day”. And we love working with her!

07/22/2025

07/21/2025

In 2022 during the Conference on Oral Health, South Central Kansas Medical Center in Arkansas City was presented with the Outstanding Organization awarded. The hospital was nominated by Dr. Nick Rogers, a dentist in Arkansas City, for providing a space for sedation dentistry services, knowing that’s difficult to find.

Do you know an organization who is doing exceptional work around oral health? Nominate them for the Excellence in Oral Health Awards.

The categories are below:

• Outstanding Dentist
• Outstanding Dental Hygienist
• Ron Alexander Outstanding Dental Champion:
• Outstanding Organization
• Bob Bethell Outstanding Policy Maker

Nominate a peer, colleague or a friend! Click here for the nomination applications for the Excellence in Oral Health Awards or the Ron Alexander Outstanding Dental Champion Award. The winners will be honored at the Conference on Oral Health on Friday, November 7 at the KU Edwards Campus. The deadline for submitting your nomination is Friday, August 29 by 5pm! Let’s give others a chance to shine. Please do not nominate anyone who has already received this award. Follow this link for a list of previous award winners and how to nominate. https://www.oralhealthkansas.org/AwardWinners.html -2

07/20/2025

July is Disability Pride Month! It's an important time to recognize, celebrate, and amplify the voices, experiences, and contributions of people with disabilities. Next week we’ll honor the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act on July 26, 1990, which was a landmark civil rights law prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in all areas of public life.

Accessibility for people with disabilities is important when seeking dental care. The Pathways to Oral Health Project partners are working together to improve access to dental care for people with disabilities. Below are some strategies we are currently working on:

• Improving the My Dental Care Passport, a tool to help communicate with the dental team before the dental appointment.
• Provide educational webinars to empower dentists and their teams with the knowledge and tools needed to enhance patient care, ensuring these individuals receive the best possible treatment in a compassionate, accessible, and effective manner.
• Educating managed care organization (MCOs) care coordination staff on resources for their members.

Visit the Pathways to Oral Health Project website for more information. https://tinyurl.com/r9p4y963

07/19/2025

The Association for Dental Safety has launched a new organization to provide clinical guidelines and best practices after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) oral health division was eliminated in a round of federal layoffs. The CDC’s oral health division was shuttered earlier this year as part of the HHS Department’s plan to reduce the number of full-time employees from 82,000 to 62,000. The ADS previously oversaw dental infection prevention and patient safety initiatives in partnership with the CDC. Now, the new ADS Institute for Dental Safety and Science will work to continue developing guidelines and best practices. The institute will be led by Eve Cuny, a board member for the ADS Foundation, according to a July 8 news release. One of the first tasks the new group will undertake is appointing an advisory committee that will oversee updates to the CDC’s infection control guidelines for dental healthcare settings. The CDC last updated these guidelines in 2003.

https://tinyurl.com/54pz8re2

07/18/2025

Explore how recent Medicaid (KanCare) dental enhancements - including increased reimbursement rates - can benefit your practice and your community in Kansas. Join these SHORT webinar series on Tuesday's beginning August 19.

This webinar series for dental teams dives into the latest improvements to Medicaid dental coverage, such as expanded adult benefits, higher payment rates, technical support, and new ways to broaden access to care. Whether your office is new to Medicaid or considering rejoining, this is your opportunity to see how these updates can strengthen your practice while helping more patients.

Together we can create stronger pathways to oral health for Kansans.

The webinar series dates and topics are listed below. Each webinar will be from 1:15pm-1:45pm on a Tuesday.

August 19: Medicaid Dental: New Rates, Better Coverage
August 26: Your Practice, Your Way: Managing Your Patient Mix
September 2: Get to Know Your MCOs
September 9: Enrollment & Credentialing
September 16: Filing Medicaid Claims
September 23: Do Well by Doing Good: Medicaid Opportunities
BONUS: September 30: My Dental Care Passport

Register here! https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KM8BAT0USQ2TTOE3uaElUg

If you have any questions, email [email protected].

07/17/2025

This week Oral Health Kansas provided testimony to the Legislature’s KanCare Oversight Committee. It was a chance to update Committee members on the new Medicaid dental rate increase and preview a survey of dental providers about their capacity to provide sedation dental care. The rate increase went into effect July 1. Committee members were pleased with the implementation of the rate increase. Oral Health Kansas also told legislators we will work with our partners on advocacy in 2026 to secure funding to finish the job to raise the rates to the commercial level.
https://tinyurl.com/jcptftwk

07/16/2025

Oral Health Kansas has submitted comments to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging them to keep fluoride supplements on the market. In May the agency announced it will remove fluoride supplements from the market this fall. Fluoride supplements are the only way people who do not have access to optimally fluoridated water have to provide systemic fluoride for children. In Kansas the city of Wichita is not fluoridated, and parents have been able to rely on fluoride supplements for their children for decades. Our comments stressed the safety and efficacy of fluoride supplements as well as the importance of preserving families’ choice to provide their children with fluoride. Read our comments here. https://tinyurl.com/32w395d6

Public comments on the FDA’s proposal are due today. The American Dental Association has set up a public comment form for use by dental professionals. Click here to submit your own comments by midnight on July 16. https://tinyurl.com/8uchff6k

The public meeting on the FDA’s proposal to remove fluoride supplements from the market will be held on Wednesday, July 23. https://tinyurl.com/3a4jse5k

The FDA has framed the public hearing in this way, “The purpose of the hybrid public meeting is to seek public input on the clinical use and safety concerns associated with the use of orally ingestible unapproved prescription drug products containing fluoride in the pediatric population.” Because of the proposal to ban fluoride supplements the stated purpose of the public meeting to address “safety concerns,” it is important to have as many people supporting fluoride as possible at the hearing. Click here to register to attend the hybrid public hearing. https://tinyurl.com/mv37je67

07/14/2025

Congratulations to Matt Fletcher who has started his new position as Executive Director for TARC. Matt has been the Executive Director of InterHab since 2018 where he has served as the spokesperson on behalf of thousands of professionals, persons with disabilities and their families. InterHab is a Pathways to Oral Health Project partner. Meghan Shreve will step in as Interim Executive Director. We congratulate Matt and Meghan on their leadership and look forward to continuing to work with both!

07/12/2025

Exciting opportunity!

Oral Health Kansas and our partners in the Pathways to Oral Health project are proud to announce a Project ECHO educational series will launch in September that will help dental teams prepare to serve people with disabilities. “Building Confidence in Dental Teams to Serve People with Disabilities” is a free five-part virtual educational program that will help dental teams learn more about people with disabilities, how to understand and prepare for sensitivities in the dental office, and what one dental office has done to create a safe and welcoming environment for their neighbors with disabilities.

This educational series is part of the KU Medical Center’s Project ECHO program, which includes a combination of presentations from experts and case study discussions among participants. Four national experts will deliver presentations about people with disabilities, dental care for people with disabilities, behavior, and sensory accommodations. Dr. Nick Rogers and Billie Donohue from Rogers Family Dentistry in Arkansas City will describe their practice’s approach to embracing people with disabilities.

The sessions will run from 12 to 1 pm CT on Thursdays from September 4 through October 2. ADA CERP credit will be available for attendees. Click here for the flyer. https://tinyurl.com/2bakpbyf

Registration will open in July, but you can join the mailing list to learn more about the series and receive information about registration by visiting this link. https://tinyurl.com/5e7th23r

This Project ECHO series is supported through an ARPA grant from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Division of Health Care Finance.

07/11/2025

Thank you to everyone who helped reach out to the Kansas Congressional delegation over the past several weeks as they worked on the budget reconciliation bill known as “one big beautiful bill.” You worked hard to tell the stories of real Kansans and how the Medicaid cuts will affect them. Thank you for your advocacy. It’s never easy, and we don’t win all the battles, but together we are making things better.

The bill passed late last week. There is a lot of dust to settle as we all figure out what was included in the final version and how Kansans will be affected. Estimates range from 12 to 17 million Americans losing their Medicaid coverage. The cuts to Medicaid total around $930 million. Administrative changes will mean that people’s eligibility for Medicaid will be redetermined every six months. Doubling the eligibility determination frequency is likely to result in errors that will mean people will lose Medicaid coverage. There will be a new cap of $200,000 for federal student loan borrowing, which will impact many people who want to go to dental school. Some estimates project that as many as 70% of dental students would not be able to attend school with a cap of $200,000 on federal student loans.

In short, one of our colleagues remarked that this bill represents one of the biggest changes in our healthcare system’s function and structure. Our partners at CareQuest Institute issued the following statement from Senior Director of Public Policy Melissa Burroughs:
“The passage of this legislation marks a dangerous setback for Medicaid and the millions of people who rely on it for essential health care, which includes oral health. Deep cuts to Medicaid funding, new work requirements, and caps on the mechanisms that states use to fund the program threaten to drastically reduce access to care across the country.

“This bill will make it harder for millions of families to afford dental care, for adults to manage chronic conditions tied to oral health, and for children and families in rural and low-income areas to find providers who can accept Medicaid or keep their doors open at all. History tells us that when states are forced to cut dental benefits, the damage can take years to undo-and often results in higher costs and overcrowded emergency rooms.

“At a time when we should be improving access to prevention and care, this bill moves in the wrong direction. We urge Congress to prioritize policies that protect and strengthen access to oral health care-not dismantle it.”

Oral Health Kansas will continue to follow the details around the federal budget and keep you informed. Let us know if you have any questions. [email protected]

07/11/2025

In June 2025, Oral Health Kansas and our Pathways to Oral Health partners released the third version of My Dental Care Passport, a unique patient-centered tool created to improve dental care experiences for people with disabilities. This newest edition reflects valuable input from individuals with disabilities, caregivers, dental providers, and self-advocates across Kansas—and now includes more concise language, improved accessibility, and compatibility with assistive technologies.

From its early days as a simple communication tool to this latest, fully inclusive version, My Dental Care Passport has become a vital link between patients and dental professionals. By allowing individuals and their caregivers to share personalized information about sensory needs, preferences, communication styles, and accommodations, the Passport helps dental teams better prepare—making visits safer, smoother, and more successful.

We are currently also working on updating the Spanish version of the My Dental Care Passport. Stay tuned!

Share the My Dental Care Passport with your dental office or if you are a dental office, share it with your team! We have helpful tips on how to use the guide for your family or if you are a dental office.

My Dental Care Passport: https://tinyurl.com/8kw6k3mp
Tips for users: https://tinyurl.com/yc4fx74n
Tips for dental offices: https://tinyurl.com/5fwwtd65