Sixteen Kansas safety net clinics currently provide direct dental care to the underserved and others plan to begin offering full-time comprehensive care in the near future. These clinics play a crucial role in providing oral health services to low-income populations, including the uninsured, and a large proportion of the Medicaid and SCHIP populations. However, as in most states, the capacity falls far short of the need. Indeed, much of Kansas has been designated a Dental Health Provider Shortage Area (HPSA-D) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Because of the growing demand and need for oral health programs in Kansas, KAMU has worked with other organizations committed to oral health to help the safety net clinics increase access to adequate oral health care, build capacity among dental providers through education and advocacy, address workforce issues, and improve recruitment and retention.

Capacity Building. Through partnerships with the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, KAMU has been able to offer a series of training sessions to Kansas dental directors and dental managers. In addition, KAMU has provided scholarships for dental providers working at safety net clinics to attend national oral health clinical workshops such as the HRSA/NNOHA National Oral Health conference and the Association of Institutional Dentistry conference. The purpose of these training's is to help dental providers to develop competencies, increase clinic performance, build partnerships and gain community support.

Recruitment and Retention. KAMU continues to work closely with other organizations to formulate strategies around recruitment and retention of oral health professionals in the state. Partners include the dental schools at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Creighton University Dental School and A.T. Still University in Arizona; the Kansas Dental Association; The Area Health Education Center of Northeast Kansas; Oral Health Kansas; and Kansas Department of Health and Environment. In addition KAMU promotes collaboration amongst safety net dental providers and the sharing of best practices through the Kansas Dental Network (KDN), which offers dental providers monthly educational webinars.