Provider care teams are becoming increasingly more integrated—engaging nontraditional roles such as behavioral health specialists, pharmacists, and pain management experts to help execute patient care plans. But oral health care professionals largely remain isolated or completely missing from medical care. In fact, even though 96% of health care executives believe the integration of dental benefits in medical plans is imminent, few hospitals and health systems have established relationships with dentists or oral surgeons.

This gap is an untapped opportunity to better manage the total cost of care for population health managers. Here are three reasons why: