In the United States, unequal opportunities to obtain dependable oral health services appear at every period of life. The result is that individuals living in rural or chronically underserved regions face consistently worse oral health across all ages than those in areas with reliable dental care. Eliminating these patterns requires broad and targeted actions that operate across multiple spheres of influence throughout the lifespan and across generations, with the aim of ending the long-standing link between oral health and social inequality in the country. Although community health centers are positioned to deliver coordinated, patient-focused, value-driven care, they frequently struggle with limited organizational and patient oral health literacy and with building the clinical capacity needed to meet substantial demand. To strengthen the preparation of the US dental workforce, the long-range objective of the New York University Langone Dental Medicine Postdoctoral Residency Programs is to expand access to and improve delivery of oral health services for people at all ages and across generations. In the near term, the program seeks to attract and train dentists to oversee integrated, patient-centered care models within community health centers located in underserved and rural communities across 30 US states, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. This article summarizes the final outcomes of a 5-year postdoctoral residency initiative centered on training dental faculty and residents in shared decision-making and motivational interviewing. Enhancing the patient experience and improving patient-reported outcomes are key to shifting dentistry away from fee-for-service and toward value-based care. Expanding successful strategies and confronting time and resource limitations within community health centers will require the active involvement of communities, organizations, patients, and families in advancing the national goal of oral health for all.
