Protecting Medicaid Dental Coverage
At My Community Dental Centers, our mission is simple and unwavering: to enhance community health by ensuring access to dental care for all.
In 2025, that mission required action.
Medicaid dental coverage for adults in Michigan faced the possibility of reduction or elimination. For the two-thirds of MCDC patients who rely on Medicaid, these benefits are not optional — they are the foundation of access to care. Coverage allows patients to relieve pain, address infection, maintain employment, support their families, and live with dignity.
When coverage is threatened, access is threatened.
Advocacy in Action
Throughout the year, our team:
Meetings hosted with state legislators and executive departments
Legislative tours hosted across 7 of our dental centers
Safety-Net Partners working together to unify the voice of nonprofit dental providers across Michigan through the Michigan Oral Health Coalition and the Critical Access Dental Safety Net Coalition.
Secured a $4 million stabilization appropriation in the FY26 State Budget.
This supports critical access dental safety net providers, including MCDC, Dental Clinics North, Van Buren Cass District Health Department Dental Center, and Helping Hands Dental This stabilization funding strengthens the infrastructure of nonprofit dental providers across the state, ensuring continued access to care in rural and underserved communities.
Advocacy is not a one-time effort. It is ongoing work — rooted in our history and guided by our responsibility to the patients and communities we serve.
Why This Matters
Seventy-eight percent of MCDC centers operate in rural or underserved communities, where access to care is already limited. Since 2015, patient visits have increased by more than 41%, a reflection of growing demand for affordable, accessible dental care across Michigan.
Behind every statistic is a person.
- A senior managing chronic illness who needs treatment to prevent infection.
- A working parent who cannot miss another day of work due to dental pain.
- A veteran seeking relief after years without coverage.
Strong policy protections ensure that these individuals can access care. But policy alone is not enough.
Our Plan for 2026: Protecting Access & Modernizing Care
In 2026, MCDC will continue advocating to protect adult Medicaid dental benefits and strengthen Michigan’s dental safety net.
At the same time, we are advancing a new priority: securing funding for modern equipment and technology upgrades across our centers.
Reliable, updated infrastructure ensures that our clinical teams can deliver consistent, high-quality care while responding to increasing patient demand. Modernization reduces costly downtime, improves efficiency, and enhances the patient experience.
Protecting access is only the first step. Strengthening how we deliver care ensures that access translates into better health outcomes across the communities we serve.
Our Commitment
Every policy decision impacts a patient.
We remain committed to protecting access, strengthening sustainability, and advocating for solutions that allow Michigan families to receive the dental care they deserve. Because when access is protected and systems are strong, communities thrive.
