A Bit About Us
Our staff, facilities, patients and their responsible parties understand our mission – to provide the same quality of care to special care populations that each of us in the community receives. No short cuts, only comprehensive care with plenty of communication along the way. It’s exciting to be a national example of how to do care right. We take that responsibility seriously every day.
While daily clinical care is our primary focus, we also are working, along with our networking partners, to change the way special care dentistry is funded and how new dental providers are educated.
We've been hard at work on an innovative new Teledentistry research project in partnership with the UNC Adams School of Dentistry and the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health.
Check out this video to learn more about how we're exploring new ways to extend our reach to those in need!
History
Access Dental Care, a North Carolina Dental Society sponsored program, was established as a non-profit organization and is a replication project of Apple Tree Dental, a Minnesota non-profit. The North Carolina Dental Society recognized that the State needed a model program to provide quality special care services and community dentists needed a referral source for their ever changing practice population. Their foresight has resulted in North Carolina being a national leader in special care dentistry.
Dr. Bill Milner transferred his private practice serving six nursing home facilities in Asheboro and Greensboro to the newly formed, non-profit Access Dental Care in 2000. The program has the support of numerous North Carolina foundations and special care interest organizations. The Cone Foundation, the North Carolina Dental Society and Piedmont Triad Area Agency on Aging grants helped launch an organization that has never stopped opening dentistry’s doors to the medically, intellectually and physically disabled.
While carefully expanding our programming efforts, we started manufacturing much of our own equipment. Loading and unloading a complete dental office five days a week requires special equipment. We have also created, with our partners at SoftDent, software specifically for the special care mobile practice. A complete system has produced the following service numbers.
Geographic Coverage
Service to 60 Counties from Murphy to Morehead City with requests for service statewide.
Past Clinical Services
• 25,750 Patients Served, 80% of whom are Medicaid
• Nearly 150,000 Patient Visits
Special Patient Populations
• 152 Active Facilities
• Over 2000 patients with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities cared for through group home day centers
• 740 Patients care for with I/DD living in the community
• 502 Patients care for in PACE programs
• 650 Patients care for at Central Carolina Health Network (all HIV+). There are approximately 150 individuals on the waiting list.
• 11,571 Patients in long term care
• 652 Operating Room Patients Completed Financial
• $20.39 Million in Gross Production
• $6.56 Million in Uncompensated Care
• $1.66 million of Foundation/Grant funding for capital expenses
Education, Advocacy and Research numbers are not included.
Financial Support
Many thanks to our foundation and individual donors who have donated over $1.6 million the past 17 years! Access Dental Care would not exist without their support because each expansion was funded by major gifts. While we provide care every day, our reimbursement doesn’t come close to funding new programs and replacing worn out equipment. Being a non-profit allows us receive these generous gifts, expanding the scope of special care dentistry.
We’re Well Connected
North Carolina Dental Society • North Carolina Foundations • UNC School of Dentistry • Eastern North Carolina School of Dentistry • NC Oral Health Section • NC Medicaid • NC Oral Health Collaborative • NC Area Health Education Centers • NC Programs for All Inclusive Care of the Elderly • American Association of Retired Persons • NC Coalition on Aging • Moses Cone and Randolph Hospitals • Central Carolina Health Network
