Objectives: 

• Recognize the advantages in improving health disparities by implementing medical/dental integration 
• Identify affordable means to providing equitable preventative services in public and mobile health care settings. 
• Have a better understanding of the need for access to care and alternate modes of delivery
• Participants will articulate the role of the limited access permit dental hygienist as a member of an interprofessional team. 
• Participants will have a better understanding of oral health disparities and strategies for improvement among vulnerable populations.

Mobile health clinics are an integral piece of a new era in health care. Innovations in dental equipment,  product development, and advancements in workforce models have made mobile dental and medical clinics a relevant mode of delivery. Increased knowledge and information surrounding the oral-systemic connection have revealed the imminent need for medical-dental integration. In an everchanging world that is demanding of time and resources, people are begging for convenience and affordable preventative options in health care. Mobile medical/dental clinics are a tangible solution to an age-old dilemma. 
 
We have developed an effective as well as affordable program that integrates nursing and dental professionals working side by side to improve the oral and overall health of our patients. Our innovative approach to school-based, nursing facility, and community outreach clinics brings not only much-needed preventative dental services, but also focuses on solutions to what may be causing both oral and systemic disease progression. Our team is taking rigorous steps to redefine the oral health outcomes of our most vulnerable populations through both the use of mobile/portable equipment and teledentistry/telemed.  We will be sharing strategies for efficiencies, whole-body health as well as adaptable procedures, methods of delivery that are designed to be effective and affordable.   

We have opened up the world of dental to our nursing students through education and hands-on training with fluoride applications, head and neck evaluations, oral health instructions,  and intraoral imaging. This collaboration is a game-changer in our fight against the seemingly endless chronic infections and health complications directly associated with the oral cavity.