The paper provides a comprehensive look at how a child’s oral health can have a lifelong impact on their overall well-being and how access to preventative care can save state budgets allocated to Medicaid over time.


Hero Practice Services, a provider of dental, vision, and orthodontic services to children in underserved communities, has released a comprehensive research paper addressing children’s oral health care and how states can protect our most vulnerable children. The paper, titled “Protecting Children’s Oral Health Care,” is a comprehensive look at how a child’s oral health can have a lifelong impact on their overall well-being and how access to preventative care can save state budgets allocated to Medicaid over time.

The research paper is available for download on the company’s website. Specifically, the paper makes the case for the following recommendations, based on research and historical performance, about how to increase access to care for low-income children.

  • Provider reimbursements tied more closely to private insurance rates or other measurements to align rates and increase provider participation and patient access. This should include reimbursements from state administrators related to Medicaid payment diversions through managed-care organizations and third-party administrators.
  • Clear value-based incentive structures for providers to deliver preventive care, including oral examinations, dental cleanings, sealants, and fluoride varnish.
  • Support for providers with the ability to provide afterhours care for dental emergencies.
  • Increased educational programs for caregivers that reinforce the value of oral hygiene, diet, and regularly scheduled preventive oral health care.
  • Preservation of programs for student loan repayment for dental providers treating primarily Medicaid dental patients. 

“Our teammates are committed to providing the best care possible to the children in underserved communities that visit our practices daily. Part of that commitment requires that we advocate for children on a broader spectrum and that is what we hope to accomplish with the release of this research,” says Joshua Gwinn, chief executive officer of Hero Practice Services.