The Access Project, led by Cathy Dunham, has offered staff support for the last three years to the Oral Health Policy Group. This is a learning group composed of 12 local, regional and national foundation executives who are particularly interested in oral health policy improvement. The Group has visited states where progress has been made through a variety of strategies, including litigation, legislative reform and state executive branch leadership.  The group meets three times a year to intensively explore the most current information available about oral health policy improvement. They are aided in their deliberations by experts in the field, academic researchers and national policy advocates. 

Research
As part of its work in exploring the effects of medical debt and inadequate insurance, TAP has developed research briefs on oral health. 

The most recent, Issue Brief No. 4: The Costs of Dental Care and the Impact of Dental Insurance Coverage (release date 4/29/09) presents data on the amounts spent out-of-pocket by family farmers and ranchers for dental care, the percentage who have dental insurance, and the percentage who have debt resulting from obtaining dental services. It also looks at the impact of having dental insurance on the overall costs of dental care, on access to care, and on the likelihood that people will experience financial hardship because of health care costs.