Dr. Marcus Baca has seen every health-related scenario imaginable. He’s a primary care pediatrician and director of pediatric health at CHAS Health. A relatively common scenario: a child whose ongoing oral health issues negatively affect their general well-being.

“Medical care and dental care should be merged in our conversations,” Dr. Baca says. “They shouldn’t be separate.” Dental care isn’t often included with other aspects of physical and mental health care, Dr. Baca explains, but they’re all connected in more ways than we think.

As a nonprofit health center, CHAS Health is dedicated to improving the health of the communities it serves, and it offers dental care as part of its health ecosystem. CHAS Health and other health care systems like Providence Health & Services and MultiCare Health System, all partner with Smile Spokane on our Medical-Dental Integration Strategy. Through this strategy, Arcora Foundation provides training, tools, and technical assistance to medical teams to integrate oral health screenings into patient visits.

The percentage of Medicaid-insured children under 6 years accessing dental care in 2020 is significantly lower than the portion of similarly aged children accessing primary medical care (49% versus 87% in 2020).^[1] Integrating oral health care into medical care ensures more children get needed oral health screenings.

Oral disease, an almost entirely preventable condition, is largely ignored by the current health system until the teeth or gums deteriorate to the point that they require aggressive, expensive, and painful interventions.

“Dental pain can affect your entire body, your entire sense of well-being,” Dr. Baca says. “Health care providers should be thinking about them simultaneously.”

That’s a problem when everyone can’t access health care and when oral health care isn’t a priority for everybody. CHAS Health and Smile Spokane are on a mission to change that.

“When you come to see us for medical care, we’re also thinking about the health of your mouth and your teeth, and we want you to think about it, too,” Dr. Baca says. “We want to remind families that their oral health is a key part of their overall medical care.”

This requires compassion from health care providers. “At some point in our lives, we’ve all needed someone to be there for us.” Dr. Baca says. “Working in this kind of place allows me the opportunity to give back to the community I live in.”

[1] Washington State Health Care Authority, Apple Health Dental Services Enrollment, and Utilization Data. Washington State Health Care Authority, Washington Apple Health 2020 Comparative and Regional Analysis Report. Comagine Health