AHCH Dental Team Improves Oral Health For People Without Homes

PROFILE/FEATURE of 2021 Round Up Newsletter. Coming Soon!  Original Feature: AHCH February 2021 Newsletter  Your Partnership Makes Oral Health Equity Available Ending tooth pain and decay for people experiencing homelessness is a priority for AHCH Dental Program.  Celebrate National Dentists Day on March 6. Dentists play an essential role in people's health, wellbeing, and more so for people who have long lacked oral care. The AHCH Dental Team is eager to get back to serving at pre-pandemic capacity with a specific emphasis on finding people who are unsheltered, including recent planning for more oral health care on outreach. Dental health is imperative to a person’s ability to eat well, express oneself, maintain self-confidence, and remain free of pain from easily treatable conditions such as tooth abscesses. All of these factors are essential to a person’s capacity to get or stay healthy, acquire housing and/or employment, and transition out of homelessness. However, oral health is difficult for people experiencing homelessness to maintain and lack of access to it can have serious implications for their overall physical health and well-being.  The consequences of COVID-19 for people experiencing homelessness have been devastating. Managing good oral health practices during the current public health crisis among unsheltered homeless populations requires a critical rethinking of how to provide integrated quality dental care.  Shortly after joining the AHCH Dental Clinic Team in 2020, Dr. Fazel began serving as a representative on a COVID response team for people experiencing homelessness, to provide training and guidance to peers, as well as to clarify internal measures and offer training across AHCH departments. In fact, all AHCH Clinical Leadership roles serve as health care subject matter experts and support emergency housing centers and social service providers. Dr. Fazel, continues to lead COVID-19 safety measures and is working with the larger AHCH Safety Team to incorporate them across the organization in addition to providing technical assistance and training for partner organizations. Dr. Fazel, along with the AHCH Street Medicine Outreach Team and the AHCH Pharmacy serve as representatives on the New Mexico Department of Health community vaccine work group to facilitate information sharing and to ensure that AHCH patients and clients gain access to COVID-19 vaccines when it becomes available. RELATED: PROFILE: Nadia (The Other Spread. January 2022) The AHCH Dental Clinic maintains and ensures the safety and protection of patients with state-of-the-art infection controls and best practice protocols from the American Dental Association. The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) including masks, gloves, protective eyewear, and gowns has led to better protection for staff and patients during this public health crisis. Recently, AHCH invested in Duramax technology, which is an aerosol system that eliminates contaminants produced during dental procedures. Potential contaminants include saliva, blood, dust, and viruses like COVID-19. Its Quattro layer filtration system effectively kills 99% of viruses and bacteria. Five dental exam rooms are equipped with Duramax technology. This keeps the Dental Clinic safe and clean.