The Minnesota Dental Association and the Minnesota Oral Health Coalition will host the third annual Oral Health Showcase on March 2, 2023, from 10am-2pm at Minnesota State Capitol, L’Etoile du Nord Vault Room, the basement rotunda of the Capitol, adjacent to the Capitol café. The Oral Health Showcase returns to the Capitol after going virtual to accommodate the pandemic.
“It feels good to be returning to the Minnesota State Capitol this year,” said Minnesota Oral Health Coalition executive director, Nancy Franke Wilson. “Our dental community looks forward to engaging lawmakers about the importance of oral health and the various approaches to delivering dental care.”
The Oral Health Showcase is an exhibit of oral health programs and organizations. It’s an opportunity to bring awareness of the importance of oral health, and to “showcase” nearly twenty of Minnesota’s oral health organizations and clinics. The participating organizations represent various regions of the state, emergency dental care, care in school-based and nursing home sites, mobile and teledentistry, as well as the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, Delta Dental of Minnesota Foundation and more.
The Oral Health Showcase presents a unique opportunity for lawmakers and our dental community to connect about dental care so vital to the overall health of Minnesotans.
“Minnesota legislators are more engaged in dental issues now more than ever,” expressed Carmelo Cinqueonce, executive director of the Minnesota Dental Association. “Our established as well as newly-elected legislators have expressed an interest in learning more about how dental health affects the overall health of Minnesotans.”
The Minnesota legislature pass a historic dental package in 2021, including increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates previously based on submitted charges from 1989, and Medicaid coverage of treatment for periodontal (gum disease) disease for nonpregnant adults. This coverage has been shown to save more in medical costs than the treatment itself for diabetics and people with other chronic health conditions. They also reduced administrative complexities and increased transparency and accountability among managed care organizations.
FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: gguy/shutterstock.com.
