One of the many ways we are helping to improve oral health is to foster public-private partnerships to improve the oral health of those who suffer disproportionately from oral diseases.

Significant examples of our commitment to improving the oral health of underserved children are the Healthy Kids Dental and MIChild programs, as well as the newly introduced Varnish! Michigan program, all of which are partnerships with the Michigan Department of Community Health.

Healthy Kids Dental
Healthy Kids Dental replaces the children’s Medicaid dental program in 61 Michigan counties and has been named one of five national models for improving access to dental care for low-income populations. Delta Dental administers the program.

MIChild
MIChild was developed in 1998 by the State of Michigan to provide low-cost health and dental insurance to the state’s uninsured children who don’t qualify for Medicaid. Delta Dental is one of MIChild’s benefit administrators.

Both Healthy Kids Dental and MIChild are unique in the public health arena because they use Delta Dental’s commercial dental networks and integrate those they cover into the same system of care used by people with employer-sponsored dental coverage.

Varnish! Michigan
Varnish! Michigan was developed by the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) in 2007, with a grant from Delta Dental, to provide free fluoride varnish treatments to Early Head Start and Head Start children throughout the state. MDCH and Delta Dental recently announced continued funding for the program with a goal of helping more than 8,000 additional children fight tooth decay. Delta Dental's commitment of $194,000 for the state's Fiscal Year 2008-09 program will pay for more than 17,000 varnish applications that are expected to reduce tooth decay between 48 and 60 percent for the children involved. View a slide show from a recent fluoride application at a Detroit Head Start.