CareQuest Innovation Partners and PDS Health Join Forces to Expand Blood Pressure Screening in Dental Settings, Advancing Integrated Care Delivery
CareQuest Innovation Partners and PDS Health have announced a new initiative aimed at expanding blood pressure screening and patient consultation services within dental care settings. This collaboration represents a meaningful step toward advancing medical-dental integration, a growing movement focused on breaking down traditional silos between oral health and primary care to deliver more comprehensive, whole-person healthcare.
The initiative is grounded in a growing body of scientific evidence demonstrating a strong connection between oral health—particularly periodontal or gum disease—and systemic conditions such as cardiovascular disease. Research has shown that individuals with gum disease are two to three times more likely to experience serious cardiovascular events, including heart attacks and strokes. These findings underscore the importance of viewing oral health not as an isolated aspect of care, but as an integral component of overall health.
Beyond cardiovascular risk, oral health has also been linked to hypertension, one of the most prevalent and costly chronic conditions worldwide. Studies indicate that individuals with untreated oral disease may face an increased likelihood of developing high blood pressure over time. Additionally, delaying dental care during early adulthood has been associated with a higher risk of hypertension later in life, suggesting that preventive oral health practices may play a role in long-term cardiovascular health.
The economic burden of hypertension further highlights the urgency of early detection and intervention. In the United States alone, high blood pressure is associated with annual healthcare costs of approximately $219 billion. These costs stem not only from direct treatment expenses but also from complications such as heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. Gaps in preventive care—including missed opportunities to identify risk factors during routine healthcare interactions—can contribute to the progression of these conditions, placing additional strain on both individuals and the healthcare system.
Despite these well-documented connections, oral healthcare and medical care have historically operated in separate domains, with limited coordination between providers. This fragmentation has created missed opportunities for early detection of systemic conditions in dental settings, where patients often seek care more regularly than they do in primary care environments.
The partnership between CareQuest Innovation Partners and PDS Health seeks to address this gap by integrating blood pressure screening into routine dental visits. By implementing a standardized workflow across participating practices, the initiative aims to ensure that patients receive blood pressure assessments as a regular part of their dental care experience. This approach leverages the accessibility of dental visits to identify individuals who may have undiagnosed hypertension and connect them with appropriate follow-up care.
Dental offices represent a particularly valuable touchpoint for preventive health screening. It is estimated that approximately 9% of individuals in the United States visit a dentist each year without seeing a physician. This unique dynamic creates an opportunity for dental professionals to serve as frontline contributors to broader health monitoring efforts. By incorporating blood pressure screening into dental visits, clinicians can help detect potential health issues earlier, potentially preventing serious complications down the line.
Katie D’Amico, Vice President of Growth and Innovation at CareQuest Innovation Partners, emphasized the importance of collaboration in addressing complex healthcare challenges. She noted that bridging the gap between medical and dental care requires coordinated efforts across multiple stakeholders. By partnering with PDS Health, which has experience in integrated care delivery, the initiative aims to translate insights into actionable solutions that improve patient outcomes.
A key component of the collaboration involves the use of integrated data systems and patient feedback to better understand the prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension within dental populations. By analyzing this data, the organizations hope to identify patterns and gaps in care, ultimately informing the development of scalable workflows that can be adopted more broadly across the healthcare system. These insights will also be used to engage payers and policymakers, supporting the creation of sustainable models for medical-dental integration.
Dan Burke, Chief Enterprise Strategy Officer at PDS Health, highlighted the broader vision driving the initiative. He described the future of healthcare as one that is increasingly integrated, preventive, and patient-centered. According to Burke, dental settings have the potential to play a meaningful role in identifying and managing chronic conditions, and this collaboration serves as a practical demonstration of how such integration can be achieved.
The initiative builds on previous collaborations between the two organizations, including joint efforts through programs such as SMILE Health and the HLTH Oral Health Pavilion. These earlier projects laid the groundwork for exploring innovative approaches to oral health and its connection to overall well-being, setting the stage for the current initiative.
The initial phase of the program launched in April 2026 and is expected to run for six months, reaching approximately 10,000 patients. The pilot is being conducted across five PDS Health dental practices located in three states, providing a diverse set of clinical environments in which to test and refine the screening workflow. These sites include Dentists of Hialeah, Walerga Dental Group, Goodyear Smiles Dentistry, Dentists of Doral, and Elk Grove Dental Group.
Following the pilot phase, CareQuest Innovation Partners and PDS Health plan to expand the program across PDS Health’s broader national network. The long-term goal is to establish preventive health screenings—such as blood pressure checks—as a standard component of dental care across the United States. By doing so, the organizations aim to create a more integrated healthcare system in which oral health professionals play an active role in identifying and managing systemic conditions.
Ultimately, this initiative reflects a broader shift in healthcare toward holistic, patient-centered models that prioritize prevention and early intervention. By leveraging the unique position of dental providers and integrating medical screening into routine visits, CareQuest Innovation Partners and PDS Health are working to close critical gaps in care. If successful, their efforts could serve as a blueprint for future innovations in medical-dental integration, improving outcomes for patients while reducing the overall burden of chronic disease on the healthcare system.
About CareQuest Innovation Partners
CareQuest Innovation Partners® funds, scales, and convenes transformative solutions to improve overall health through oral health. Together, with our ecosystem of leading industry partners, startups, and investors, we make health care more accessible, equitable, and integrated. CareQuest Innovation Partners is the for-profit subsidiary of CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, and they are joined by the mission to improve the oral health of all. To learn more, visit carequestinnovation.com and follow us on X/Twitter and LinkedIn.
About PDS Health
PDS Health® continues the journey started by Pacific Dental Services® in 1994, with a vision to redefine health care through the integration of dental and medical services. Its approach, centered on the connection between oral health and overall health, aims to create healthier, happier patients and set new benchmarks in the health care industry. As a leading provider of integrated health care support, the company delivers a broad spectrum of services to dental, dental specialties, and medical providers, enhancing operations and care delivery for clinicians across the US.
