According to 2024 data collected by the Texas Department of State Health Services, Travis County has a total of 919 dentists with an estimated population of 1.39 million residents.
Despite the amount of dentists in the county area, low-income residents have reported barriers to receiving dental care they can afford. In the 2020 Austin Area Community Survey, an average of 26% of survey respondents were unable to access dental services.
Travis County’s hospital district, Central Health, has expanded its health care services for low-income residents since its establishment in 2004, including offering dental services through its partnership with CommUnityCare, a federally qualified health center.
The background
Dr. Joshua Even is the director of dental services at CommUnityCare and works as a general dentist as well as helping with management of the center’s dental services. After previously working for a private practice, he joined the team in 2019 after looking for an organization which helps serve the underserved.
Even said it's important to offer affordable healthcare services in all communities as it has become more difficult to find comprehensive dental care both covered and not covered by insurance.
“Seeing how we're increasing our footprint and giving more patients more access to the kind of care that we deliver has been really impactful for the community because we are helping to reduce the burden of disease in that environment in a way that isn't available anywhere else,” Even said.
CommUnityCare has nine locations that feature affordable dental health services throughout the Austin area for both insured and uninsured community members.
Patients are able to receive exams, cleanings, fillings, extractions and preventative care at any of the nine participating locations across South Austin, East Austin, North Austin and Pflugerville. For more complicated cases, the center partners with oral surgeons.
“We try to take care of their...chief complaint or their main concern, try to get that taken care of, but we want to establish care and basically get this patient to be healthy and stable,” Even said.
CommUnityCare serves a large area across the Austin area but has a heavy focus on care in the Eastern Crescent, an area which begins north of downtown and covers southeast neighborhoods reaching south of Oltorf Street, according to a research map created by The Uprooted Project at The University of Texas at Austin.
The Eastern Crescent has the highest inequities in healthcare and dental care impacting the 412,296 residents in those areas, as reported by CommUnityCare’s 2018 Community Health Needs Assessment.
In 2024, CommUnityCare clinics served more than 143,000 patients with 38,000, or 27%, of patients receiving dental care, Even said.
Approximately 97% of patients at the clinics report their incomes are under 200% of the federal poverty line which is $62,400 yearly income for a household of four, according to 2024 data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“I think forever in this country people look at dental care as a luxury item that is incredibly expensive, but it's really important to be able to access it across the board,” Even said. “The mouth is part of the body, and most dental diseases are chronic infections or inflammatory diseases that have real impact on the overall health.”
12 Oaks Dental dentists Dr. Marc Worob and Dr. Elyse Barron have shaped their dental practice on a foundation of educating patients about the connection between dental care and whole body health.
“We're trying to be very comprehensive and thorough and give people the best results possible, and if you help them do all these things, they're going to live longer and live better lives and be able to enjoy that pretty smile they spend a lot of money on,” Worob said.
Worob and Barron said dental problems can affect sleep, breathing, blood pressure and gradually impact other body systems.
Studies from the past 15 years have shown bacteria found in the mouth can cause periodontal disease and spread beyond the oral cavity, Barron said.
The same bacteria can be found in the plaque in the heart, in the arteries and in the brain.
“There are some very direct correlations in some of the bacteria that's in your mouth that make their way into the body because it's all connected,” Barron said. “Bone loss and inflammation in the mouth directly impacts pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, Alzheimer's, colon cancer and especially heart disease. Any place there's stress, these bacteria will show up. They're drivers of inflammation.”
While the office has cultivated relationships with patients who now recognize them as partners in healthcare, its primary offerings still include general, cosmetic and restorative dentistry services.
“We fix teeth,” Worob said. “We give people really good, pretty smiles and do all of that stuff too but some people it takes awhile to get there because you have to deal with all this other stuff first.”
Barron’s general tips for dental care include:
- Brush for two minutes twice a day
- Floss
- Use a low abrasive remineralizing toothpaste or toothpaste with nanohydroxyapatite such as Dr. Jen, Boka and Bite
- Use a waterpick for bone loss and crown edges
- Drink 64-100 ounces of water per day
- Get seven hours of good-quality sleep
- Exercise 150 minutes per week
