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Institute Projects
Oral Healthcare Solutions Project
Apple Tree is leading a collaborative effort to create a new healthcare system model
that improves health care outcomes for patients while reducing state funded healthcare costs.
The state’s leading oral health stakeholders are taking part in this planning project, and will
produce a business plan for a pilot project to be tested by the Minnesota Department of Human
Services in 2005. For background information, see the article entitled
The Oral Healthcare Solutions Project.
Educational Collaborations
Apple Tree has embarked on a number of educational collaborations aimed at offering dentists, hygienists,
and dental assistants exposure to Apple Tree’s unique nonprofit mobile healthcare delivery model, and
training in special care dentistry. Our hope is that through this exposure to patient care for nursing home
residents, low-income children, and people with disabilities, they will come to appreciate the special rewards
that special care dentistry can offer.
Read more about our Educational Collaborations
Advocacy and Public Policy
The seminal report, “Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General,” originally published in May 2000,
charts a broad course of action to improve the nation’s oral health including the goal of raising the awareness
of the importance of oral health among government policy makers to create effective public policy. Apple Tree
is taking up this charge through a variety of conferences, initiatives and programs.
Read more about Advocacy and Public Policy
Research
Advances in dentistry have allowed each generation of Americans to keep their natural teeth for longer periods,
but little research has focused on the special needs of the long-tem care population. Apple Tree’s oral health
database includes diagnostic and treatment data on over 20,000 patients, and has been used for several research projects
and publications. For instance, Dr. Drew Smith, a University of Minnesota graduate student, analyzed 1993 clinical
data based on 3,479 patients in 36 facilities. He found that over 75% of patients with natural teeth had urgent
dental problems. In 1997, Dr. Paul Thai won a national award in a scientific paper competition using Apple Tree’s
database. His paper entitled, “Nurses’ Dental Assessments and Subsequent Care in Minnesota Nursing Homes,” was
published in Special Care in Dentistry. For information about a recent study of the the stability of oral health
status in a long-term care population click on the following story.
Barbara Smith Receives PhD from U. of Michigan
Dental Care Delivery Innovations
Bringing dental equipment into nursing homes, Head Start centers, or other community facilities has always been challenging.
Most dental equipment, scheduling software, and even dental billing codes are designed with fixed dental clinics in mind.
In order to bring care where it is needed most, Apple Tree has pioneered many aspects of dental care delivery. For more
information, see our page on Clinical Innovations. |
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