On the morning of November 13, 2015, community stakeholders from throughout Tampa Bay gathered at the Collaborative Labs within St. Petersburg College’s Epicenter for the Tampa Bay Healthcare Collaborative’s (TBHC) oral health community forum. As guests checked in, they were ushered into a bustling meeting area; its walls alight with digital monitors that featured oral health experiences shared with the Collaborative by Tampa Bay residents.
One such quote read, “I haven’t taken a picture in three years because of my smile. I need help getting teeth pulled and dentures on top, please.” Another read, “I would really like care for my teeth. I just don’t have the money. I don’t even smile anymore.” These are the words of Tampa Bay community members who took part in the Achieving Oral Health Equity (AOHE) community assessment, either by completing an oral health survey or participating in a focus group.
These quotes shed light on a broad range of issues associated with oral health access. “I’ve got an HMO, and it’s hard to find a dentist that will accept that,” said one, while another said, “I have no access to insurance options. It’s not clear what is and is not paid for. There is a lot of confusion around what benefits I have and do not have with my Medicare and Medicaid package,” demonstrating the confusing and conflicting information (or lack thereof) which community members deal with. Other quotes highlighted different barriers: “I have no time to visit a dentist because of my work schedule, and I can’t get access to a good dentist because of the cost.”
In March of this year, TBHC launched the AOHE initiative and began working towards significant systems and public policy change, aiming to establish new social norms around oral health. Through authentic grassroots community outreach, and in partnership with existing efforts, the Collaborative has undertaken an extensive oral health community assessment of the prevailing attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs across the Tampa Bay area. TBHC’s goal is to reduce oral health disparities and address racial, social, economic, and systemic barriers — such as those related in the quotes above — to improve oral health outcomes for all.
Because the AOHE initiative is community-driven, the Collaborative is committed to ensuring that the voices of those most impacted by our efforts continue to be heard. Stakeholders who participated in the community forum witnessed this principle in action first-hand. The Collaborative’s Program Coordinator, Marissa Davis, and the Collaborative Labs Executive Director, Andrea Henning, welcomed forum attendees by challenging them to consider three questions as they proceeded with the day’s agenda: where are we now, where do we want to be, and how can we get there together?
Stakeholders were asked to contemplate what goals at the national, state, and local levels would drive the movement towards achieving oral health equity; what Florida’s oral health landscape currently looks like; what barriers currently exist within the community for someone seeking dental services; and how stakeholders could work as a network towards this common goal.
Carrie Hepburn, Executive Director for TBHC, provided context with an overview of the Collaborative’s role in achieving oral health equity as part of the DentaQuest Foundation’s Oral Health 2020 Movement, and invited stakeholders to share some of their oral health best practices. Then, she introduced the DentaQuest Foundation’s Vice President for Foundation Programs, Michael Monopoli, and Grants and Program Associate Andrew Bishop, who elaborated on the Oral Health 2020 Movement and the urgent need for increased awareness of oral health disparities. President and CEO of the Florida Institute for Health Innovation, Dr. Roderick King, continued the conversation with a presentation on the state of oral health in Florida.
Andrea Henning then led a team activity, called “The Five Whys,” to determine some of the root causes for Florida’s poor oral health outcomes. Participants used the Collaborative Labs’ live polling technology to home in on the top three. A lack of provider resources (professional dental personnel, capacity, funding, etc.) was identified as the leading root cause by stakeholders. Issues with navigating insurance benefits and a lack of income were tied as the second leading cause. Education-related shortcomings rounded out the top three.
While sharing TBHC’s preliminary oral health community assessment data, Marissa Davis emphasized the connection between these root causes and the barriers reflected in the community data. The discussion came full circle as attendees were once again asked to consider: where are we now, where do we want to be, and how can we get there together?
Affirming that oral health inequities are a matter of social justice, Marissa called attendees to action with a favorite quote from Henry Ford: “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” Carrie Hepburn followed up with a debrief, reiterating that TBHC is not trying to duplicate efforts, but instead to leverage existing efforts into opportunities for collaboration toward the shared goal of achieving oral health equity.
The spirit and substance of the day was captured by a tremendously talented artist with the Collaborative Labs, Jonathan, who described his stunning artistic rendering as “bridging the gap to progress with winds of change.”
