Brighter Way Dental Center

The Brighter Way Model of Care

As we strive to establish a permanent Dental Home for vulnerable low-income and homeless adults, we also address a patient’s overall well-being through a community network of collaborations. This effort drives the need to reduce inequities resulting from social determinants of health, poverty, and homelessness.

The 2023 Maricopa County Homeless Point in Time Count reported a 91.7% increase In unsheltered individuals over 2022. 77% were adults ages 25-61 years.

At the Diane & Bruce Halle Brighter Way Dental Center, each patient has an oral health treatment plan that in many cases, requires complex restoration through multiple services and a coordinated care process that considers multiple domains of the patient’s overall health. As part of the Campus collective, there is a pathway to help address the overall quality of a patient’s life and well-being.

Our Priority Is The Patient.
If one is on the street and needs emergency care or if one is an ex-homeless Veteran requiring complex care, Brighter Way is there.

Impoverished adults experience unimaginable disparities and barriers to care that at first glance may seem insurmountable. Brighter Way addresses a patient’s overall well-being and provides long-term oral health care with reliable access to services, screenings, and treatment regardless of their ability to pay.

In 2022, the Downtown Halle Dental Center provided 17,027 oral health services to 2.951 low-income adult patients at a cost of $124.26 per procedure.

Brighter Way provides a flexible model of remote access for older at-risk adults and unhoused patients through our Mobile Dental Center.

At-Risk Older Adults

Over 3 years, Brighter Way has seen an accelerating trend in the overall number of complex restorative services needed among older adults. This pathway increases capacity to restore overall patient health through better nutrition and improved self-esteem. We have seen an unprecedented 264% one-year increase in surgical bone replacement grafts and tissue regeneration procedures that are prerequisite to implant placement.

Homeless Individuals

Brighter Way understands there is a strong need to consider existing health conditions and treatment risks of our homeless patients before providing oral health surgery. Through collaborations on the Human Services Campus, we are able to provide triage screenings to determine how to most effectively tailor services to each homeless patient and to determine if our patient is a suitable candidate for implants.

Veterans

With an estimated 253,512 veterans in Maricopa County, almost half are 60+ years, and one in four struggle with chronic health issues and severe dental disease. In 2022, Brighter Way proudly provided 5,447 oral health services to 944 low-income veterans who could not access the complex services they needed or afford the care. Reports indicate, “access to dental care is among the top 3 unmet needs of Arizona veterans”.

Domestic Violence Survivors

Injuries to the head and neck occur in over 65% of domestic abuse cases, resulting in physical, emotional and psychological trauma. Brighter Way professionals understand the impact of this trauma. In addition to offering dental interventions and restoring oral health, we also make every effort to help survivors gain access to appropriate support and referral services so as to make a positive difference in their lives.