Delta Dental offers care to uninsured

Company sees oral health as key link in overall wellness

By Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 23, 2008 at 7 p.m.

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Photo by Silvia Razgova / Special To The Rocky

Dental assistant Candace Martinez cleans 2-year-old Edita's teeth while Edita's mother, Edita Jakovljevic, keeps her calm. At right, Edita's brother, Kevin, 3, checks out his newly cleaned teeth.

Kate Paul is aware of the effect the economy has on health care.

Photo by Silvia Razgova / Special To The Rocky

Two-year-old Edita opens her mouth wide for her mother, Edita Jakovljevic, so she can examine her daughter's freshly cleaned teeth during their visit to a dentist this week.

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Contrary to popular belief, tooth decay isn't caused by eating too many sugary sweets and lackadaisical tooth brushing.

Cavities are caused by a communicable bacteria, often transmitted from mother or other caregivers who share utensils or otherwise exchange saliva with babies.

"There's a window of infection - an incubation period if you will - and if you don't get the bug in that window, you'll never have a single cavity no matter what you do," said Kate Paul, president and CEO of Delta Dental, the state's biggest dental insurer with about 1 million members.

Getting the word to pregnant women and new mothers on how to prevent transmission of that bacteria is one of nonprofit Delta Dental's missions. The insurer is using its Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation charitable arm to spread the word through obstetricians, dentists and media campaigns.

Delta Dental is focusing not just on its own members but the half of the state's population that doesn't have dental insurance. People with dental insurance are more than one and a half times more likely to visit the dentist than those who don't, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Working to improve the dental health of the state's youngest residents is just one of the ways that Paul, who came from a medical background before joining Delta in 2001, views oral health as a key component of a patient's overall wellness. Researchers in recent years have drawn increasing links between periodontal disease and other medical problems, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and premature, underweight births.

"There's this phenomenal effect that if you address and treat periodontal disease, you can lessen the inflammatory load in the body," she said.

But getting people to visit the dentist, particularly when they are watching their budgets, is another matter.

To combat that, Delta plans to introduce three different individual insurance plans this summer. It is finalizing details but will offer at least a preferred provider plan and a discount plan.

Delta also is setting aside $1.4 million to provide 12 months of free dental care for uninsured people who meet income requirements.

"It will give them the opportunity to not just go in for one day of free care, but it will give them the chance to really develop a relationship with a dentist," said Barbara Springer, executive director of the Delta Dental Foundation.

Paul is well-aware of the impact the economy has on consumer spending and health care. Paul, who has a master's degree in public health, was president of nonprofit health provider Kaiser Permanente's Western operations before joining Delta. She's past chairwoman of the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's Denver branch, and she served on the boards of Horizon Organic and Fischer Imaging.

Cynthia Evans, who has served on Delta Dental's board since 2004, said Paul brought a focus on governance and accountability to the insurance company.

"I've been involved in a number of nonprofits before, and never before have I seen such an intense focus on governance," said Evans, a former top officer at Xcel Energy in Colorado and now head of the Monfort Executive Professor Program at the University of Northern Colorado's business college.

Delta, which was founded in 1958 and is part of the nationwide Delta Dental Plans Association, competes against the likes of Blue Cross Blue Shield and Cigna Health Care. Delta is unique in that it offers only dental insurance and has 2,500 dentists in its network.

Dr. Don Safer, an endodontist with Endodontics of Cherry Creek, has accepted Delta Dental for about 35 years. He said that Delta is the easiest to work with of all the insurance plans, his office accepts it, largely because of its customer service.

"Delta is made up of dentists, by dentists. We understand what service means," Safer said. "When you call, you always get a live person."

davisj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2514

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