Dental Insurance

Millions of Americans in both rural and inner city areas are unable to obtain dental care because there are not enough dentists practicing in their communities. The federal government estimates that more than 31 million people live in areas designated as "dental shortage areas" where there is less than one full-time equivalent dentist for a population of 4,000 to 5,000.

Lack of access to oral health care is a critical issue in the United States due to disparities in the health care delivery system. This is documented in ADHA's access to care 2001 position paper, which follows the Surgeon General's 2000 report, Oral Health in America, which called untreated poor oral health a "silent X-factor promoting the onset of life-threatening diseases which are responsible for the deaths of millions of Americans each year."

• From 1985-86 to 1995-96, the number of dental hygiene graduates increased by 20 percent, while the number of dentist graduates declined by 23 percent.
  
  
• Recent research identified periodontal disease as a risk factor for heart and lung disease; diabetes; premature, low-birth weight babies and a number of other systemic diseases. Also, routine oral health exams can uncover symptoms of diabetes, osteoporosis and low bone mass, eating disorders and HIV.
  
  
• The cost of providing restorative treatment is more expensive than providing preventive services. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) 2001 recommendations for using fluoride to prevent dental caries, reports that in 1991, the annual cost of water fluoridation in the U.S. was $0.72 per person. Moreover, the average cost of applying one dental sealant is less than half the cost of one silver filling.
  
  
• In addition to economic hurdles, there are bureaucratic and legal barriers that prevent dental hygienists from providing access to care. For instance, state laws and regulations limit access by imposing restrictive supervision requirements on dental hygienists.
  
  
• Millions of Americans in both rural and urban areas are unable to obtain care because there are not enough dentists practicing in those areas. The federal government estimates that more than 31 million people live in areas designated as "dental shortage areas" where there is less than one full-time equivalent dentist for a population of 4,000 to 5,000.
  
  
• ADHA recommends several solutions to the access to care issue. One is to develop partnerships among health care organizations, state and federal government and other interested groups to educate the public on the importance of oral health and the integral role it plays in total health. Another solution is for state and federal government to recognize licensed dental hygienists as Medicaid providers. And yet one more solution would be to relax state practice acts to allow more dental hygienists to provide oral health care to those who are not currently receiving it.