Save the date: Integrated Care Summit heads to Park City in 2027

The case keeps getting stronger. Nearly 42 percent of U.S. adults 30 and older have periodontal disease, and the American Heart Association now links it to higher risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure, recommending regular dental screenings for high-risk cardiovascular patients. Yet most medical training programs devote fewer than five hours to oral health.

A strong first year

The summit this past May drew dental hygienists together with dentists, physicians, nurses, behavioral health specialists and public health leaders for two days of plenaries and workshops outside Denver.

Of the attendees who rated the summit, 96.7 percent were satisfied or very satisfied, and 85.4 percent reported that they will make, or are contemplating making, changes in their practice or role as a result of attending.

What attendees valued most was each other, with interprofessional collaboration emerging as the most common theme in open-ended feedback, ahead of practical tools and hands-on learning.

Holly Kingsbury, quality initiatives director at the Colorado Community Health Network, came to talk about integrating behavioral health screening into dental visits.

“I’ve never been to an ADHA conference,” she told ADHA’s Hygiene Rising podcast host Matt Crespin on site, “so it’s going to be really fun to learn about practices from the hygiene world.”

Her advice to clinics starting down this road: Get everyone in a room first and walk the workflow through together, because uncertainty about what to do next is the biggest barrier. When a patient sits in the chair, she said, it is a chance for the hygienist “to show that they really care about that whole person beyond just the teeth.”

The Activation Station Lounge gave that idea a physical form. Attendees practiced A1C point-of-care testing at the Henry Schein station, ran blood pressure screening simulations with the American Heart Association, and analyzed their own saliva for an Oral Fitness Score — tools that make an invisible disease process visible to a patient.

Dento CEO Michael Lazzara said that is exactly the point. His company’s technology is about “taking something invisible and making it visible and tangible to the patient,” he explained on the Hygiene Rising podcast. Because periodontal disease neither hurts nor shows, patients often return having changed nothing, but when they can watch a number improve, their behavior tends to follow. Dental hygienists, he said, have the greatest opportunity gap to cover in improving patients’ overall health. 

Park City in 2027

Integrated Care Summit 2027: Bridging the Gaps to Whole-Person Care will run Friday, April 30 through Sunday, May 2, 2027, at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in Park City, Utah. Registration opens Jan. 11.

Henry Schein and Kenvue are already on board as platinum sponsors, and the program carries CE and CME credits while building on care models from organizations already doing the work. Sponsorship and exhibit opportunities remain open; email corporatedevelopment@adha.net to learn more or visit adha.org/ics27.

Registration is $469 for ADHA members, $369 for new professionals, $269 for students and $569 for nonmembers, and includes meals, the evening reception, all sessions, exhibit hall access and wellness activities.

Add your name to the Park City First list at adha.org/ics27 to get first-look details on the agenda, speakers and registration as they are announced.

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