Oral Health Community of Practice

The North Sound Oral Health community of practice is a partnership of committed individuals and organizations in the North Sound region (Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, Island, and San Juan Island counties) working together to improve oral health equity. Partners share resources, best practices, and performance improvement data, and work together on projects.

This group began in 2019 as a local impact network (LIN), founded by the Arcora Foundation and North Sound ACH, which committed resources to help partners achieve LIN-specific goals, guided by a regional Steering Committee that set the strategic direction. They officially moved into the community of practice model at the November 12 meeting, with the official sunset of the Arcora LIN model.

A summary report of the 2024 Oral Health LIN evaluation is available below.

This group has done essential work to expand access to oral health care across our region, particularly in rural areas and for elementary school students. Read more about communities of practice, and the other groups in our region, at this webpage. We welcome new and existing partners to help plan the future of oral health in the region! Please reach out to Keiko McCracken at Keiko@NorthSoundACH.org for more information or to subscribe to the Oral Health mailing list to keep updated on new developments.

In 2024, the North Sound Oral Health Local Impact Network (LIN) sponsored the creation of data maps to highlight eight essential oral health metrics across the region at a sub-county level, including dental provider and dental clinic shortages, dental utilization rates for children and adults with Medicaid, and cities with fluoridated water supplies. The LIN evaluator, Lara Welker, spent nearly a year organizing the data to help communities identify areas for greatest impact.

Please reach out to Keiko McCracken at Keiko@NorthSoundACH.org if you, or a group you are part of, is interested in scheduling a virtual or in-person data walk with Lara Welker to explore the current state of oral health in our region and its ties to other community metrics.

Here are the results of the Oral Health LIN data mapping project at the sub-county level, including maps, corresponding tables, and data notes for each of the five counties in our region: Island, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom.

Here you can find previous meeting recordings of North Sound Oral Health LIN meetings.

Are you interested in oral health and want to stay connected to what is going on in the North Sound region? Reach out to Keiko McCracken at keiko@northsoundach.org.