Improving Dental Access to 500 Rural, Underserved Minnesota Families via Opioid Prevention and Telehealth Innovations: A 2021 DTA Foundation Grant Project

The DTA Foundation continued its usual funding of oral health pilot projects in 2021 after its 2020 pivot to COVID related projects. The Children’s Dental Services was one of five grant recipients from last year’s funding cycle. See below pieces of their 2021 DTA Foundation grant application for more details on their project: Improving Dental Access to 500 Rural, Underserved Minnesota Families via Opioid Prevention and Telehealth Innovations.

Essential, opioid-specific, dental education/treatment will be provided in rural Minnesota which disproportionately suffers from the opioid crisis and lack of access to dental care. Paired with new and existing telehealth efforts, this project will address the impact of opioids on oral health, and the interconnectedness of the two.

This is innovative and replicable model addresses the significant intersection between opioid use and oral health. Per the University of Sheffield, U.S. “dentists are the leading source of opioids for children and adolescents aged 10 to 19”. For this large group, “recent evidence suggests that dental exposure to opioids in naïve adolescents and young adults is associated with higher rates of opioid use between 3 months and a year later compared to controls” (Thornhill, Suda, K.J., Durkin, M.J. et al. (2019) Is it time US dentistry ended its opioid dependence? Journal of the American Dental Association, 150 (10). pp. 883-889.”

The opioid crisis is growing in rural Minnesota in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Coupling opioid prevention with dental treatment provided in accessible, community-based locations co-located with other essential services ensures care integration and improved oral and overall healthcare.