A Dental home is defined as the ongoing relationship between a patient and a specific team of dental providers charged with ensuring comprehensive, accessible, preventive, coordinated and family-centered oral health care delivery. The dental home model of care focuses on delivering regular, ongoing care throughout a patient’s lifetime.
The Importance of a Dental Home
Because children with a dental home are more likely to receive routine and oral health care, the dental home should be established no later than at one year of age to help maintain a lifetime of good oral health. Dental homes allow dental providers to coordinate and ensure preventive care and treatment and include referrals to dental specialists when appropriate. Therefore, establishing a dental home reduces financial burden and decreases the number of dental procedures experienced by patients over their lifetime.
Establishing Your DentaQuest Dental Home
More than 8.1 million DentaQuest members are currently assigned to dental homes. The following factors are considered when assigning a member to a dental home:
- The dental home listed on the eligibility file
- History at an identified dental home
- Distance from home to the dental home
- Siblings currently assigned to a dental home
- Age in relation to the ages the dental office treats
- Available capacity of the dental home location
Members may change their dental home assignment at any time by calling Customer Service.
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