Over half of Minnesota counties are Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas, or in other words have a shortage of dentists.

The shortage area can be defined as Geographic—a lack of dentists accessible to an entire population in an area, or Population—indicating a lack of dentists accessible to a specified population of people.

That shortage of dental health professionals is especially present in rural Minnesota counties, with the lack of access to care hitting those on medical assistance particularly hard.

“Providers are retiring at a rate higher than those entering the field. Beyond the work being done to address staffing shortages, billing can be additionally cumbersome for individual providers,” said Danielle Alida, principal government markets county/community liaison at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

While the shortage impacts Minnesotans in many areas of the state, not all providers are able to accept Medicare and Medicaid coverage.

To help counties navigate oral health challenges, Blue Cross is funding seven dental coordinator positions in different regions of the state to connect residents to dental resources and create partnerships to support those working to address dental needs. These positions are embedded within the counties and are uniquely qualified to understand the dental needs of the communities within their regions.

“Funding the regional dental coordinators really came out of us listening to the counties and asking them, ‘What do you need? How can we help?’ when the topic of dental came up,” said Alida. “We know that some people are leaving their counties to receive dental care, so it really made sense for us to focus on a regional approach.”

In place since 2021, the dental coordinators are working to expand dental access by developing and coordinating dental resources in the community. They work to ensure residents understand their benefits and help connect them to local services and resources. Additionally, they work with legislators and county boards and other stakeholders working on oral health to share what they are seeing at a regional level to inform potential solutions.

“They’re really working at a micro, mezzo and macro level to address these needs head-on,” Alida said.

In addition to the work being done to help adults with dental needs, the regional dental coordinators are also prioritizing children’s oral health specifically, with regards to access and oral health education.

Coordinators regularly partner with schools and dental professionals across their regions to provide oral health education and dental hygiene supplies.

Their work has resulted in the addition of oral health to wellness plans in more than 17 schools, and they are currently working with more than four dozen more schools to do the same.

Learn more

To learn more about other initiatives Blue Cross has underway to address oral health, click here.