Delta Dental of Washington (DDWA) is the state’s leading provider of dental benefits, covering over 3.8 million individuals across the state. Guided by our mission to revolutionize the oral health industry and remove barriers to health care, we’re committed to working toward our vision that all people can enjoy good oral and overall health, with no one left behind.

Since 2021, we:

• Partnered with the WSDA to increase our donation from $1 million in 2020 to $1.5 million to integrate Shoreline Dental Hygiene Program with UW School of Dentistry.
• Launched the “Introduction to Dentistry Program”, a youth-focused program that aims to teach students about career opportunities in the dental industry and about the value of diversity and inclusion for building strong, healthy communities.
  
  
  • To learn more about how you can volunteer to empower the next generation of dental professionals and make dentistry more diverse and inclusive, email us at DentalDiveristyIdeas@DeltaDentalWA.com.
• Collaborated with the Washington State Dental Association (WSDA) and Arcora Foundation to host the first-ever Washington Black & African American Dental Professionals Dinner in Fall 2022.
  • The next in-person Washington Black and African American Dental Professionals Dinner will be in early 2023, with opportunities to connect via Zoom until the next meeting. To learn more or join the conversation as a Black or African American dental professional, email us at DentalDiveristyIdeas@DeltaDentalWA.com.

With the help of our Tooth Fairy Experience program, we’ve made oral health education accessible to nearly 40,000 children across the state. The program includes:

• In-person and virtual classroom and community presentations
• Online resources for parents
• Letters from the Tooth Fairy
• Tooth Fairy Malcom, the first ASL-Speaking Tooth Fairy
• The quarterly Grin & Grow newsletter
• The Amazingly Awesome Clean Teeth Coloring & Activity Book made available to dentists to share with their young patients
• Two children’s publications – The Clean Teeth Club: A Tooth Fairy Tale and The Search for the World’s Greatest Smile: A Tooth Fairy Tale

Our partners at Arcora Foundation continue to bend the arc of oral health toward equity, reducing the disparities to help all people have the healthy smiles they deserve. In 2021, Arcora Foundation:

• Provided more than $1 million in grants to support localized efforts to improve health equity.
• Connected over 38, 000 users with urgent and routine dental care through DentistLink and a new, formal partnership with the Washington State Health Care Authority.
• Expanded the Access to Baby and Child Dentistry (ABCD) program to cover children with special health needs through age 12.
• Saw more than 1,300 patients on the SmileMobile in over 30 clinics across the state.
• Partnered with leaders in the dental community to offer continuing dental education courses on high-demand topics like motivational interviewing, medical emergencies, and infection control.