DOING BUSINESS
Childhood Dental Disease Affects Millions One ASC fights back BY HAZEL WHITEOAK Dental disease,
our
nation’s number 1 pre- ventable childhood dis- ease, endangers the over- all health of millions. It
is a silent epidemic that dispropor- tionately affects poor children lead- ing to a lifetime of health problems. According to the American Dental Association, in 2017, dental pain alone accounted for more than one million emergency room (ER) admis- sions costing the health care system more than $1 billion. PDI Surgery Center in Wind-
sor, California, is the only non- profit agency in Northern California that provides critical dental surgery under general anesthesia for children from
underserved families. Since opening in 2008, its service area has grown from three Northern Califor- nia counties originally identified as having the greatest need to 33 coun- ties, which is more than half of the counties in the state. Every child deserves a healthy start in life but a child suffering the pain of tooth decay is robbed of that strong start. A child in pain can’t concentrate or sit still in school and, consequently, falls behind both aca- demically and socially. The Califor- nia Parenting Institute reports that the number 1 reason for referrals to Child Protective Services in the state is poor oral health.
History
Prior to the establishment of PDI Surgery Center, children from North- ern California had to travel a mini- mum of 50 miles to San Francisco or Oakland Children’s Hospitals to receive sedated pediatric dental ser-
vices. Children routinely had to wait up to 18 months for an appointment and their families often could not afford the time or expense of travel- ing to obtain those services. The Pediatric Dental Initiative of the North Coast (
redsdentists.org/ pdi-pediatric-dental-initiative.html) began in 2006 as a grassroots col- laboration among health providers, child advocates, social service pro- grams and public health programs in Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties. All of the groups involved joined forces to create a program dedicated to opening a self-sustain- ing ASC that would offer timely treatment and comprehensive case management aimed at serving disad- vantaged children in Sonoma, Men- docino and Lake counties, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. The program also was designed to provide dental restorative services for children, prevention education
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and follow-up services for the chil- dren’s families. The program began with a planning
project funded through a Commu- nity Access to Child Health (CATCH) grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Founding PDI board mem- bers, Katherine Foster, MD, and Suzie Shupe, both First 5 Commissioners (
first5association.org), formed a coali- tion that included insurance compa- nies, public health officials, advocates, dentists, tribal and Indian health offi- cials, pediatricians, Head Start staff, directors of community health cen- ters and representatives from regional health centers. The coalition mem- bers committed to a one-year plan that would: ■■
accomplish a needs assessment; ■■ develop a staffing model;
■■ develop a case management plan; ■■
■■
identify and develop a site for the surgery center;
address issues related to profes- sional interests, such as buy-in
The advice and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not represent official Ambulatory Surgery Center Association policy or opinion.
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