By Mary Otto

This year’s panel on oral health at Health Journalism 2017 offered a wide-ranging discussion of important stories unfolding in the world of oral health, including potential changes to Medicaid, possible changes in funding for CHIP and changing models of dental care.

For background that will help you learn more about these many unfolding stories and how they might impact people in your state and community, here are some useful resources.

For a history and detailed explanation of Medicaid’s Early Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) benefits check out this link.

Need more resources? Check here.

For additional insights into the scheduled Sept. 20, 2017, expiration of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program see this useful issue brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

To learn more about “direct access” states where dental hygienists are allowed to treat patients without the specific authorization or presence of a dentist see this map and state-by-state explainer sheet from the American Dental Hygienists Association.

For more on teledentistry, see this paper by Paul Glassman, a California dental educator who is a leader in the use of this technology.

For a Pew map that illustrates the status of states adopting and using dental therapists see this link.

For more background on state efforts and the controversy about dental therapists see this AHCJ blog post.

To learn about the history and mission of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, see this link.

For more about the enduring problem with emergency room visits for non-traumatic dental problems see this AHCJ blog post.

To learn more about the ADA’s Community Dental Health Coordinator program and the states that are becoming involved see this link.