Oral Health for People with Disabilities Technical Assistance Center Program.

Assembly Member Arambula advances a measure to create an Oral Health for People with Disabilities Technical Assistance Center Program, a new statewide framework designed to reduce or eliminate the need for sedation and general anesthesia in dental care for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

The bill would add a dedicated program administered by a California dental school or college, with a preference for a public institution, to be in place by mid-2027 and operating through a five-year contract ending in 2032, with annual data reporting to the Legislature beginning one year after contract initiation. Eligible partnerships may include other California dental schools or colleges, provided they are located in California and accredited, and lead faculty demonstrate prior work with regional centers that used teledentistry, reduced reliance on sedation/GA, and achieved improved community oral health outcomes. The contracted school or partnership would engage up to 21 regional centers, provide training and system development, enlist participating dental offices and clinics, design community-based operational systems, monitor personnel and progress, organize a statewide advisory committee and learning community, and collect and analyze program data with the support of regional centers and providers.

The partners’ duties are complemented by defined regional center responsibilities, including designating a lead contact, establishing vendor agreements, identifying beneficiaries with long wait times for sedation/GA, maintaining necessary social, medical, and consent information for referrals, facilitating referrals, and monitoring patient activity and progress. The Department of Developmental Services would issue implementation guidance, clarify payment and workflow processes, support vendorization improvements, allow aggregation of anonymized results, and may adopt additional implementing rules. The article provides procurement flexibility, permitting exclusive or nonexclusive contracts and exemptions from certain standard competitive-bid and review processes, subject to an appropriation and annual reporting requirements under Government Code provisions.

Implementation hinges on legislative funding and establishes an explicit reporting framework, requiring annual data submissions through 2033 and a statewide governance mechanism to guide and evaluate the program. The initiative situates the effort within California’s broader developmental disabilities framework by coordinating DDS, regional centers, and dental schools, and it emphasizes community-based, teledentistry-enabled approaches to expand access to dental care for individuals who currently rely on sedation or wait longer for services. The bill’s findings highlight barriers to care, potential advances in dental practice, and the need for systemic improvements in payment and practitioner capacity, while anchoring accountability to a Legislature-directed data program and a formal advisory and learning ecosystem.