CareQuest Institute for Oral Health and Henry Schein, Inc. today announced the BRIDGE Health Network, a movement bringing together health care providers across a diverse array of geographies and care settings to advance dental-medical integration. The initial pilot programs will incorporate a workflow to take patient vitals and lifestyle markers, as well as incorporate CLIA-waived point-of-care screening – including HbA1c – during routine dental hygiene visits to expand preventive care screening capabilities, empower patients with more regular comprehensive health summaries, and help to close care gaps with medical providers.

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Regular oral health visits offer a convenient and efficient opportunity to screen for potential health risks, including through the expanded use of chairside point-of-care testing, and help inform patients who may be at risk about appropriate medical follow-up. Yet the oral health visit remains an underleveraged access point within the health care system, despite the important connection between oral health and overall health.

For example, 80% of individuals with prediabetes and 28% with diabetes are unaware of their condition; dental settings offer a key opportunity for earlier detection. Chairside A1C screening has been shown to identify elevated HbA1c levels in more than 11% of previously undiagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes and an additional 47% with prediabetes. Addressing these conditions earlier could save the US health care system up to $100 million a year.

The BRIDGE Health Network was created to help address these gaps in care and strengthen connections between dentistry and medicine. By bringing providers together across diverse practice settings and geographies, the Network aims to show—through real-world pilots—that dental-medical integration is both practical and scalable. Through this work, CareQuest and Henry Schein seek to improve outcomes for patients, providers, payers, and ultimately society as a whole.

“Dentistry has historically been a siloed area of health care despite the strong correlation it has with a myriad of chronic health conditions,” said Azeem Mallick, MBA, Vice President of Innovation & Partnerships at CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. “The BRIDGE Health Network reflects our commitment to improving overall health through oral health, and our collaboration with Henry Schein helps us scale that impact by bringing practical, integrated solutions to providers across a wide range of care settings.”

The BRIDGE Health Network’s first pilots will introduce vitals and lifestyle markers, as well as point-of-care screenings, including A1C, to dental offices. Dental teams will screen for risk, provide a systemic-health summary, educational resources and support patients in follow-up care. The approach and intended outcomes are threefold:

  • Co-design pilots to demonstrate the efficacy, feasibility, and benefit of preventive health screenings in dental settings.

  • Advance the business case for models that honor dental-medical integration across clinical, financial, and operational outcomes.

  • Take the initiative’s learnings and outcomes to create a clear playbook with actionable workflows and best practices to educate others and advance the dental-medical integration model.

Henry Schein will spearhead pilot implementation and serve as the primary contact for device and supply distribution, technical support, and clinic engagement and training. This work reflects Henry Schein’s commitment to advancing dental-medical integration and helping health care professionals incorporate practical screening workflows into routine care. In partnership with Henry Schein and participating clinics, CareQuest will provide program-level data to support the initiative.

To support the pilot workflow, Dentrix Ascend has been enhanced with new fields to enable participating practices to capture point-of-care screening data directly within the dental technology, helping incorporate broader health information into the patient record and dental care workflow.

“Diabetes can go undiagnosed for years, and the dental chair is one of the few places people reliably show up during that window,” said Dr. Ryan Hungate, Chief Strategy and Clinical Officer at Henry Schein One. “This pilot puts a point-of-care HbA1c screening in the operatory to help identify patients who may be at risk and could benefit from follow-up with a medical provider. This screening result is now captured directly in Ascend or Axium, helping create a more holistic health history of the patient for future visits.”

Together, collaborators will co-develop the playbook and provide marketing opportunities for the BRIDGE Health Network. A select group of organizations is contributing to early BRIDGE Health Network learnings, representing a broad range of care delivery settings across the oral health ecosystem. The Network’s inaugural cohort includes community-based and safety-net providers, multi-site dental organizations and leading academic institutions: Bright Direction Dental, Imagine Medical & Dental Group, NKC Dental, Smile House JBL, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, Workman School of Dental Medicine at High Point University, Westwind Integrative Health and Zufall Health.

“Health care is at an exciting inflection point, one where dentistry and medicine are increasingly being viewed as synergistic rather than two separate entities, “ said David Kochman, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Henry Schein. “In collaboration with CareQuest and our clinical partners, the BRIDGE Health Network is creating a blueprint for a new approach to primary health care – focused on early detection and prevention, built upon the foundation of dental-medical integration.”

The BRIDGE Health Network was recently featured at the American Academy for Oral Systemic Health Conference (AAOSH) from September 10-12, where various point of care tests were shared with the audience. The BRIDGE Health Network will also be featured at HLTH from November 15-18, 2026 and Rocky Mountain Dental Convention from January 21-23, 2027.

About CareQuest

CareQuest is a mission-driven organization dedicated to improving overall health through oral health. Comprised of CareQuest Institute for Oral Health® and CareQuest Innovation Partners, CareQuest works to create a more accessible, equitable, and integrated health system. The national nonprofit CareQuest Institute for Oral Health advances systemic change through philanthropy, analytics and data insights, health transformation, policy and advocacy, and education. CareQuest Innovation Partners, the Institute’s for-profit subsidiary, funds, scales, and convenes transformative solutions alongside industry partners, startups, and investors to improve oral and overall health. Together, they share a unified mission to improve the oral health of all.

About Henry Schein, Inc.

Henry Schein, Inc. (Nasdaq: HSIC) is a products, services, and technology platforms company for healthcare customers. With more than 25,000 Team Schein Members worldwide, the Company’s network of trusted advisors provides more than 1 million customers globally with more than 300 valued solutions that help improve operational success and clinical outcomes. Our Business, Clinical, Technology, and Supply Chain solutions help office-based dental and medical practitioners work more efficiently so they can provide quality care more effectively. These solutions also support dental laboratories, government and institutional healthcare clinics, as well as other alternate care sites.

Henry Schein operates through a centralized and automated distribution network, with a selection of more than 300,000 branded products and Henry Schein corporate brand products in our distribution centers.

A FORTUNE 500 Company and a member of the S&P 500® index, Henry Schein is headquartered in Melville, N.Y., and has operations or affiliates in 34 countries and territories. The Company’s sales reached $13.2 billion in 2025, and have grown at a compound annual rate of approximately 11.0 percent since Henry Schein became a public company in 1995.

For more information, visit Henry Schein at www.henryschein.com.

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