Letter from CEO & Chairman of the Board

Kids Say the Darndest Things. As the old Bill Cosby show demonstrated (or Art Linkletter, if you go back that far), kids can come up with some pretty imaginative ideas. Take, for instance, the ideas that some local kids created for a Delta Dental tagline.

Delta Dental: Preventing cavities is our job and when we do, you can eat corn on the cob!

Delta Dental is our name and fixing teeth is our game!

Delta Dental: When we fix your teeth, you don’t have any more grief!

While these were quite clever, we weren’t sure they conveyed exactly what Delta Dental is all about. Our mission says we are dedicated to advancing and promoting the improvement of oral health. We strive to meet that mission in a number of ways.

First, we work every day to provide high value and well-managed dental plans to our 1,700 employer groups and their employees. In late 2010, we announced a new Rate Stability program that rewards long time clients with even lower caps on rate increases. Average rate increases for 2010 were a low 3.2 percent.

Because dental benefits promote not just dental health, but systemic health as well, we increased the value of our Smile Smart for Your Health program by adding to the list of conditions eligible for enhanced benefits. We also began offering an Individual and Family Dental Plan that’s grown to include more than 2,000 enrollees.

In order to improve oral health, we must maintain an adequate dental workforce. We’re proud to report that, through a variety of interventions, the overall number of South Dakota dentists has increased from 300 to 400 since 2000.

Another major aspect of our corporate mission is to improve the oral health of those South Dakotans who lack access to dental benefits and care. In 2010, we contributed nearly $1.9 million to address the needs of South Dakota’s underserved and uninsured populations. The end of 2010 also marked the completion of Delta Dental’s five-year, $5 million 2010 Oral Health Initiative. We hope you’ll visit deltadentalsd.com to view a copy of the outcomes report on that initiative.

In the coming months we’ll be sharing plans for a 2015 Initiative. We look forward to collaborating with other funders and partners as we continue to increase access to care for underserved populations, ensure an adequate and educated dental workforce and increase the public’s and policy makers’ understanding of the importance of good oral health and its relationship to overall health.

From our mobile dental program to Head Start donations to a group of dedicated educators who are spreading the message about the importance of good oral health, we are wholly committed to ensuring access to great smiles and better oral—and general—health for all South Dakotans.

So while clever taglines can be entertaining, we think “Everyone Deserves a Healthy Smile” says it all.