Partnership building promotes national dental care
United Concordia Dental Insurers in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, have partnered with community organisation across the United States to raise funds to provide free dental care to residents most in need of treatment. Together, $760,000 was raised to treat 3,600 children and adults.
In the United States, dental treatment is reliant on dental insurance, and those unable to afford cover are at risk of neglecting dental care. For this reason, dentists and professional volunteers united to raise the additional funds for free treatment where needed and also more affordable discounted insurance. The Community Outreach Coordinator for United Concordia said that, “with the help of our partners, we are raising awareness of the importance of oral health and providing much-needed dental care in underserved communities.”
In the United Kingdom, Britons are fortunate to have NHS health care to fall back on for their dentistry needs. Through the NHS local partnerships are built within communities for dental care so insurers tend not to take as active a role in fund raising for needed local care. Many Britons from low income households rely on such NHS care and cannot either afford dental insurance.
When government provision falters, such as the current experience in West Wales, patient dental care suffers. In the absence of an “NHS system” in the US dental insurers and community organisations in partnership try to fill the dental care gap. However, in the UK, besides lengthy government funding reviews for dental practice funding, business ventures such as The Dental Partnership Ltd, have emerged since 2006 to provide joint venture opportunities for dentists wishing to establish and operate their own practices.
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