In Maine, about half of all children are not receiving preventive dental care, and even fewer can access care in a traditional dental home. Not only does dental disease contribute to local issues, including pain and difficulty eating, but systemic health effects that correlate to dental disease are also a concern.
It is good practice to approach dental disease prevention similarly to how other diseases are prevented: the primary care setting. Medical dental integration (MDI) is the practice of integrating oral health and primary care to address oral health as part of overall health. MDI allows families to access preventive and early intervention services before the dental disease process begins.
MDI allows families to access preventive and early intervention services when it matters most, BEFORE the dental disease process begins.
Accomplishing MDI
MCD provides leadership for several MDI initiatives of the Children’s Oral Health Network of Maine (COHN)’s Health Integration Action Team (HIAT). The cross-sector initiative Fostering Systems Change-Addressing Oral Health in Maine’s Child Welfare System started in 2024 to address oral health for children entering foster care in Maine. Historically, caseworkers continue to face the challenge of connecting dental care to children who enter foster care. MCD has convened a broad group of partners tasked with streamlining access to oral healthcare for children entering foster care. The process utilizes a teledentistry-based, virtual triage platform utilized by medical providers who perform intake examinations when children enter foster care. Since 2025, this process has been successfully connecting children in foster care to oral healthcare.
