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Our
Mission
Through advocacy, coalition building, and
education the Connecticut Oral Health Initiative (COHI) creates
a public conscience that results in access to oral
health care for all.
About Us The Connecticut Oral Health Initiative (COHI) is the only
statewide oral
health advocacy organization in Connecticut.
COHI is a broad-based coalition
of health professionals, business and community leaders dedicated to
improving Connecticut's systems for providing oral health care.
There
is a crisis in oral health in Connecticut. Tooth decay remains the most
common chronic childhood disease in Connecticut. By some estimates, it
affects half of all first graders and 80% of seventeen-year-olds.
We could wipe out oral disease with decent dental care from an early age.
Instead, our children miss hundreds of thousands of hours of school annually
due to tooth decay and oral infection.
Many dentists find it impossible to take Medicaid/Husky patients. Reimbursement
rates are hopelessly low and haven't been adjusted since 1993. Only one
in ten Connecticut dentists now accepts Medicaid/Husky clients. 71% of
children enroll in Connecticut's Medicaid Program do not receive any
dental care.
Waiting lists exceed one year.
To address the crisis, COHI began in 1993 as a committee of the Connecticut
State Dental Association. In 2003 COHI became an independent non-profit
organization committed to oral health care for all. COHI has gained statewide
recognition for its expertise in oral health advocacy and policy work.
COHI's vision is a Connecticut where all residents have access to affordable,
high quality oral health services. Without the efforts of COHI and other
committed advocates, oral health would continue to be devalued, short-changed,
and under-funded. The recent state budget battles, and the long history
of oral health policy in Connecticut, prove these sad facts to be true.
Working together, we CAN make "Oral Health Care for All" in
Connecticut a reality!
"
You're not healthy without good oral health."
Dr. C. Everett
Koop, former U.S. Surgeon General
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