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Promoting Children’s Preventive Dental Visits

Routine dental visits play a critical role in children’s health by monitoring the development of teeth and gums, preventing tooth decay, establishing good oral hygiene habits, and enabling early identification and treatment of issues—all of which promote lifelong oral health.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is pleased to launch a new oral health technical assistance (TA) initiative aimed at improving the delivery of preventive oral health services for children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This initiative builds on CMS’s previous TA efforts to advance children’s oral health prevention in primary care.

CMS’s Fall 2025 Promoting Preventive Dental Visits webinar series highlights successful approaches for promoting children’s preventive dental visits. Each webinar features promising state strategies and shares actionable insights to support Medicaid and CHIP programs in improving children’s utilization and delivery of preventive oral health care. The webinar series is complemented by an action-oriented affinity group that offers state Medicaid and CHIP programs the opportunity to design and implement a quality improvement (QI) project. Participating states receive one-on-one coaching, engage in interactive workshops and learning sessions, and learn from the experiences of peer state teams to inform their strategies.

Webinar Series

CMS invites all interested staff from state Medicaid and CHIP programs, along with their dental providers, Medicaid and CHIP managed care plans, pediatric providers, public health agencies, and other quality improvement partners, to participate in this webinar series.

Register for the full webinar series here.

Webinar 1: State Medicaid and CHIP Experiences Promoting Children’s Preventive Dental Visits
October 30, 2025, 1-2pm ET
Register for this webinar here.

This webinar features presentations from state Medicaid and CHIP teams highlighting innovative approaches for promoting children’s preventive dental visits, including different models for administering dental benefits. Presenters discuss how Medicaid and CHIP administrative processes, as well as timely referrals from primary care, can support beneficiaries in establishing a dental home and ensure access to preventive dental care for children.

Webinar 2: Strategies to Increase Dental Provider Participation in Medicaid and CHIP
November 20, 2025, 2-3pm ET
Register for this webinar here.

Dental provider participation is critical to improving access, quality, and outcomes for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries. This webinar highlights the American Dental Association’s two-year pilot project aimed at increasing dental provider participation and service utilization in state Medicaid and CHIP programs. Presentations from state Medicaid and CHIP teams highlight strategies for strengthening dental provider participation, along with key outcomes, challenges, and lessons learned.

Affinity Group

Beginning in late 2025, CMS will convene a 21-month affinity group focused on increasing children’s preventive dental visits. Using the Child Core Set Oral Evaluation, Dental Services (OEV-CH) measure as a key indicator, state teams led by Medicaid and CHIP state staff and other state partners will design and implement a QI project. Participating teams will receive tailored support through monthly one-on-one TA sessions with QI coaches and subject matter experts, periodic group-learning sessions focused on QI and leadership skill-building, and peer-to-peer learning among state teams.

The affinity group includes two phases: 

  • Pre-implementation (3 months): Medicaid and CHIP QI staff will assess opportunities for improvement in their state, using QI tools such as process flow mapping. This phase will culminate in the development of a QI project aim statement, identification of QI partners, and creation of a strategic plan to guide project implementation.
  • Implementation (18 months): State teams will work with CMS and their QI partners to conduct small tests of change using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles, “learning their way” into strong program and policy change.

To learn more, attend the informational webinar:

Informational Webinar: Overview of the Promoting Children’s Preventive Dental Visits Affinity Group and the Expression of Interest (EOI) Process 
December 3, 2025, 3-4pm ET
Register for this webinar here.

State Medicaid and CHIP staff interested in participating in the affinity group must complete an EOI form. When completing the EOI, please select Promoting Children’s Preventive Dental Visits as the affinity group of interest.

Note: States are not required to identify a specific project focus or QI partners at this stage. Project planning and partner engagement will be supported during the first three months of the affinity group.

To complete an EOI, click here. EOI forms are due by Friday, January 9, 2026.

Questions?

Please contact the QI TA team with any questions at MedicaidCHIPQI@cms.hhs.gov.