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PROGRAMS – PUBLIC AWARENESS
Oral Health Kansas Workforce Summit
Currently in Kansas, ten counties do not have a single dentist,
and an additional eighteen counties have less than one full-time
equivalent (FTE) dentist. For many Kansans, accessing dental
services is a huge problem as evidenced by the thousands of Kansans
who are attending the Kansas Mission of Mercy free dental clinics.
Although these clinics provide much-needed dental care, they
do not create a long-term solution to the current dental workforce
shortage.
The current population of dentists in this state is
aging, and there are a great number of dentists over the age
of 55 years.
In the next 10 years, we will see large numbers of dentists leaving
practice with not nearly enough dentists currently entering school
or practice to replace them.
Kansas does not have a dental school,
and there are only five schools of dental hygiene, which have limited
enrollment.
In January 2005, Kansas Health Institute released a
study on the declining supply of dentists in Kansas. The study
showed that many
poor and rural Kansans lag significantly behind an acceptable standard
of oral health. The study was very clear that policy changes must
begin to take place now if we are to head off oral health problems
as the supply of dentists continues to decline.
At the time of the
study’s release, Oral Health Kansas hosted
a workforce summit, bringing together stakeholders from across
the state to put together policy recommendations to begin addressing
this issue.
View the Kansas Health Institute Study: www.khi.org
View
the Policy Recommendations from the Summit: Policy
recommendations.
View Photos Taken at the Public Release
of the Workforce Priorities: Photos.
View/Listen to Articles and Press
Related to Oral Health Workforce:
Annual Excellence in Oral Health Award
Do you know of an individual who is a community leader in oral health? Maybe you know a clinician, or organization that has made a positive impact?
Please let us know. This year Oral Health Kansas, Inc. will be presenting four "Excellence in Oral Health Awards" for the following catagories: Community Leader, Clinician, Policy Maker and Organization.
To fill out a nomination form, or several, click here.
Send in your nomination no later than October 10, 2009 to:
Oral Health Kansas
800 SW. Jackson, Suite 1120
Topeka, KS 66612
Awards will be presented at the 2009 Annual Oral Health Conference being held on TBD.
2004 Recipient: Kansas Dental Charitable Foundation
for the Kansas Mission of Mercy Project
2005 Recipients:
Individual Dental Champion Award: David Foley, DDS
Organization Dental Champion Award: Sedgwick County Health Department - Children's Dental Clinic
2006 Recipients:
Outstanding Community Member: Kathy Hunt, RDH
Outstanding Clinician:Roger Nolte, DDS
Outstanding Organization: Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas
2007 Recipients:
Outstanding Community Leader: Maggie Smet, RDH
Outstanding Clinician: Nick Rogers, DDS
Oustanding Organization: Kansas Action for Children
Outstanding Policy Maker: Senator Jim Barnett
2008 Recipients:
Outstanding Community Leader: Rebecca Scott
Outstanding Clinician: Kandee Klein, DDS
Outstanding Organization: Lifetime Smiles
Outstanding Policy Maker: Represenative Bob Bethell
Lifetime Achievement Award: Kim Moore
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