From the 2026 Fall Journal of the Colorado Dental Association
By Jeanette Courtad, D.D.S.
Oral Health is Health, Not a Line Item: What a Campus Dental Clinic’s Closure Taught Me about the Cost of Treating Dentistry as Optional
When We Were Essential
On May 29, 2026, I stood before colleagues at the American College Health Association (ACHA) conference and presented on the impact that oral health services can have on the resilience and overall wellness of college students. My co-presenter (arguably the best hygienist in the known universe), Mary Walker, and I hosted the only oral health presentation on the four-day program, which was a sea of medical, administrative, counseling and health promotion offerings. We celebrated the unique, student-funded model that allowed us to prioritize prevention and oral health education without insurance intrusions. The room’s engagement told us what we already believed: that oral health is integral to the conversation, not detached from it.
Five days later, the Colorado campus clinic that I founded 27 years ago was closed without student or staff input. It became a line item, removed entirely from the student health center budget.
Our university, The Colorado School of Mines, sustained a student-health-embedded dental clinic with modest student fees, at an institution with no medical or dental school. This was a rare and genuinely innovative model: oral health folded into general student wellness as a student-patient choice, not a teaching byproduct to train future providers. Innovation is Mines’ brand. Mines leads the world in mining engineering and recently received a $32.7 million federal investment, at a time when many colleges are struggling with lost grants and diminished research funding.
Over the past two decades, colleges have made much needed improvements to their mental health outreach initiatives, as evidenced by the ACHA programming, and this should be applauded. The bidirectional link between oral health and chronic diseases, including those affecting cognition, has been well established during this same timeframe. So why does our profession remain outside the larger conversation regarding overall wellness? Our patients are becoming increasingly aware of the connections as well, and younger generations are particularly confused by the siloing of services, driven by the insurance industry (and, admittedly, our own profession).
Toward Whole-Person Health That Means Something
The same month that our clinic was closed, Mines was named a “Basic Needs Campus” by the state of Colorado (cdhe.colorado.gov/basic-needs) for its student-centered and equity-driven initiatives. The students needing these services were a good percentage of those treated, yet why is oral health somehow not considered basic or essential? We know differently as a profession, and we see how heartbreakingly essential our services are, particularly for our underserved patients.
The Colorado School of Mines had 27 years of physical integration of medical, dental and counseling services, providing timely referrals and soft handoffs to oftentimes distressed student patients. This unique college model, funded by the students’ fees, thrived with the help of student government support through multiple administrations, more philosophically aligned with Mines’ spirit of innovation and excellence. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to educate and treat this incredible population of students and alumni (two of which I am proud to call my son and daughter), and I will continue to keep advocating even when (especially when!) a door is closed, until oral health is no longer a line item.
Dr. Courtad has been a speaker for ADA, AAPD, and ACHA conferences. After graduating from UCSF, she volunteered to teach part-time in the Dental Public Health Department. She is the author and illustrator of the award-winning Toothful Tales book series, whose tooth characters live rent free in her head, forever devising new ways to highlight how essential they are.
