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 will be available in early 2025.

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.

On September 30, 25 members of the North Sound Oral Health Local Impact Network (LIN) participated in a data walk highlighting eight essential oral health metrics across the region, including dental provider and dental clinic shortages, dental utilization rates for children and adults with Medicaid, and cities with fluoridated water supplies. The Oral Health LIN evaluator, Lara Welker, spent nearly a year organizing these data and the group was able to discuss potential areas for greatest impact.

We welcome new and existing partners to help plan the future of oral health in the region! Please reach out to Nyka Osteen at nyka@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 
• Subscribing to the Oral Health LIN mailing list to keep updated on new developments

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Here are the results of the Oral Health LIN data mapping project at the sub-county level, created by Lara Welker. The data is from 2023-2024, and was compiled in 2024. This data includes maps, corresponding tables,
and data notes providing information at a sub-county level for each of the five counties in our region: Island, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom.

The mission of the North Sound Oral Health LIN is to create innovative partnerships and sustainable strategies to increase oral health equity and improve the quality of life for all people in the North Sound region.

The North Sound LIN focuses its work on five mutually reinforcing anchor strategies: Access to care, Mobile Dental, Workforce, Oral Health Integration, and Oral Health Education.

The Network exists to promote dialogue and projects that are grounded in the following concepts: Collaboration, System Change, and Sustainability.

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’s going on in the North Sound region?

Sign up for the North Sound Oral Health Newsletter! The purpose of this newsletter is to provide oral health-related information, updates on funded projects, meeting announcements, and more. Reach out to us at Nyka@NorthSoundACH.org.