Cavity Free Care Network Pilot Project & Funding Opportunity

Pilot Project Highlights

Medical-Dental Integration Project ages 0-21

$15,000 in funding

Project Start Date: July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028

Apply by February 28th, 2026

Contact Cherith Flowerday at Cherith.Flowerday@dhha.org for more information and questions.

Overview

The Colorado Department of Public Health’s and Environment’s (CDPHE) Oral Health Unit (OHU), in collaboration with Denver Health, the University of Colorado and several subject matter experts throughout Colorado have formed the Cavity Free Care Network (CFCN) to encompass CDPHE programs that are focused on increasing access to oral health services in the medical setting. The already existing Cavity Free at Three (CF3) program, focused on young children, is being joined by a new program, Beyond Early Smiles: Cavity Free Youth (CFY), as well as new oral health literacy training. The new programs will expand upon the current CF3 child curriculum so that together they reach all children and youth ages 0-21. All these programs together make up the Cavity Free Care Network.

In order to facilitate the creation and testing of the new Beyond Early Smiles: Cavity Free Youth (CFY) and literacy training we are offering the opportunity to participate as a pilot clinic in the Cavity Free Care Network, receiving extensive professional and financial support. We will work with your office to provide training, coaching, technical assistance and resources around preventive oral health services, oral health literacy, and integration. Your practice will collect data that will serve to inform the implementation process. Participating in this pilot project will build the capacity of your providers and staff to work on oral health with all ages of children and youth, will help improve the oral health of your child and youth patients, and will provide your clinic with financial support to offset the cost of time spent on implementation.

The state of child and youth oral health: an opportunity

Cavities are nearly 100% preventable, yet they are the most common disease of childhood. The 2022-2023 Basic Screening Survey found that the prevalence of treated or untreated cavities was statistically significantly higher in third-grade as compared to kindergarten. This observation emphasizes the importance of early intervention. Nearly half (46.2%) of kindergarten students had a caries experience while nearly two-thirds (60.6%) of third-grade students had a caries experience. Unaddressed tooth decay impacts overall health and may result in:

chronic pain

impaired speech development

infection

problems eating

problems sleeping

missed school

academic challenges

poor self-esteem

What we want to achieve together

Pilot the previously mentioned oral health integration programs

Integrate the program activities into your current workflows for ages 0-21

Collect oral health service delivery data from your clinic to inform your implementation team regarding progress and impact

Integrate oral health and primary health care for those children and youth who are at risk for oral diseases

Promote oral health and prevent oral disease in medical settings

Increase organizational and patient oral health literacy

How does your medical clinic benefit from participating in this program?

Participate in the HRSA-supported, Improving Oral Health Integration (IOHI) Project. This project is provided to CDPHE through a 4-year cooperative agreement with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources Service Administration (July 2024 – June 2028). Colorado is one of 8 states funded to improve the oral health of their state’s youth. Your practice will benefit from shared learning between states that will trickle down to impact support provided to your clinic.

Become trained on oral health, oral health literacy, and how to implement medical-dental integration.

Receive personalized coaching support and technical assistance to assist your clinic with implementation. In the first year a coach will meet with your team monthly to support implementation activities. In subsequent years a coach will be available in a frequency appropriate to the needs of the clinic at that time.

Have access to professionally developed patient-facing oral health resources.

Receive IT support from the University of Colorado data support staff. Some clinic teams benefit from customized support for the process of optimizing their electronic records, such as deciding how to document the data they want to track, knowing how to change the software to track needed data, and communicating between themselves and their electronic records management staff.

Receive up to $15,000 in funding over the course of the project.

Year 1 (July 2026- June 2027)- onboarding, piloting, implementation, and data collection phase- $10,000

Year 2 (July 2027- June 2028)- sustainability phase- $5,000

What does this look like in my clinic?

Your clinic will create a team that implements this work. Members will take on various roles to facilitate implementation. The team will meet monthly with a practice coach to work together on the project. The team will also work between meetings. A high level overview of activities are as follows:

Year 1 (Piloting Phase of the Program) July 2026- June 2027:

Complete a readiness assessment

Providers and staff complete a baseline oral health knowledge survey

Attend metrics data kick-off meeting and subsequent meetings

Baseline data collection

Participate in project onboarding and kick-off meetings

Perform data metrics preparation activities between meetings, unique to your clinic’s needs

Complete CF3, CFY and Cavity Free Literacy (oral health literacy) training

Implement the new oral health activities into your practice setting. This includes activities such as discussing oral health with patients, performing oral health screenings, doing an oral health risk assessment, applying fluoride varnish, providing resources, and providing referrals to a dental provider.

Year 2 (Sustainability Phase of the Program)- July 2027- June 2028:

Attend monthly coaching calls with CFCN team (tailored to clinic needs)

Work on implementation activities between coaching meetings as appropriate

Self directed ongoing quality improvement activities if needed

Monthly data collection

Eligibility

Clinic located in Colorado

Primary care, pediatric medical clinic, or school-based health center

Has child and/or youth patients

Either currently has some degree of relationship with a dentist to whom patients can be referred for additional dental services, or is willing to work with us to establish a referral relationship.

Accepts Medicaid patients

Application Process

If you are interested in applying, please email Cherith.Flowerday@dhha.org at your earliest convenience. The brief application process includes filling out two short documents and having a virtual meeting with project staff.

Questions?

If you are interested in learning more, please contact Cherith Flowerday, at Cherith.Flowerday@dhha.org. If you have questions specifically about contracting and/or payment to clinics, please reach out to Leah Brunner Leah.Brunner@state.co.us.

HRSA Disclaimer

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provided financial support for this project. The award provided 22% of total costs and totaled $425,000.00. The contents are those of the author. They may not reflect the policies of HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government.