Following a 2022 funding victory by Hawaii dentists that restored Medicaid dental coverage for more than 200,000 adults, the Hawaii Dental Hui now wants to create an oral health task force to take a comprehensive look at oral care needs around the state.

Dr. Don Sand, founder and president of the Hawaii Dental Hui, said the creation of a task force through House Bill 2744 would bring together Hawaii’s dental care system “from insurance companies to the University of Hawaii medical school to the oral health coalitions” among others to “study the problem, get data and then make recommendations to fix the problem.”

“Oral health care in Hawaii is, of the 50 states, almost the worst,” Sand told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Monday.

Dental infections alone, he said, added up to $40 billion in just the past five years.

In 2022, Sand’s group convinced legislators and Gov. Josh Green to restore state funding to augment federal funds to provide dental coverage to Medicaid adults after state money was stripped away 13 years before.

The hui found an ally in Green, America’s only sitting governor who is also a physician, who started his Hawaii medical career treating rural, low-income families on Hawaii island.

Now the Hawaiian Dental Hui is using its relationships to push HB 2744 and a new task force to document Hawaii’s broader dental needs.

Sand submitted written testimony that “key voices required to develop system improvements” include public health dentists, private practice dentists, dental specialists and patient advocate groups.

The original version of HB 2744 received wide support from agencies and groups including the state Department of Human Services and state Department of Health.

DOH, in its written testimony, said access to dental care is a “challenge since most of the primary and specialty oral health providers are in the urban areas of the City and County of Honolulu. The lack of access to oral health care is particularly serious in rural communities on the neighbor islands and in low-income urban/rural areas of Oahu.”

It said rebuilding DOH’s oral public health program is essential to fulfilling health mandates outlined in state law.

Only the state Office of Information Practices criticized HB 2744 over a proposed exemption for the oral health task force to not adhere to the state’s Sunshine Law, which is intended to provide government transparency.

The latest version of HB 2744 includes no language calling for an exemption.

The oral health task force would include members from UH’s Nancy Atmospera- Walch School of Nursing Dental Hygiene Program, or NAWSON, and UH’s John A. Burns School of Medicine.

UH submitted testimony on behalf of both schools in support of HB 2744, saying the task force will fill an important role in Hawaii by creating a “dedicated entity” that will target oral health.

It said benefits of a task force “include stronger cross-sector collaboration on oral health issues, up-to-date analysis of community oral health status, increased awareness of the importance of oral health, and clear, actionable recommendations for improvements.”

In its written testimony, UH said NAWSON “wishes to recognize the incredible talent and dedicated experts in oral health that are faculty of NAWSON. These faculty commit to enhancing access to oral healthcare through the education and training of the future dental hygienist workforce.”

UH recommended two faculty members to be included on the task force: NAWSON’s Dr. Deborah Mattheus, a senior practice director and dental sealant program director for Healthy and Ready to Learn Program within the “Hawaii Keiki,” and Dr. Matthew Oishi, JABSOM’s oral health director.