Date: July 13, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Millions of Americans Lack Access to Essential Oral Health Care
WASHINGTON -- Millions of Americans are not receiving needed dental care services because of "persistent and systemic" barriers that limit their access to oral health care, says a new report by the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. To remove these barriers -- which disproportionately affect children, seniors, minorities, and other vulnerable populations -- the report recommends changing funding and reimbursement for dental care; expanding the oral health work force by training doctors, nurses, and other nondental professionals to recognize risk for oral diseases; and revamping regulatory, educational, and administrative practices.
"The consequences of insufficient access to oral health care and resultant poor oral health -- at both the individual and population levels -- are far-reaching," said Frederick Rivara, Seattle Children's Guild Endowed Chair in Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine,
The report says that economic, structural, geographic, and cultural factors contribute to this problem. For example, approximately 33.3 million people live in areas with shortages of dental health professionals. In 2008, 4.6 million children did not obtain needed dental care because their families could not afford it. And in 2006, only 38 percent of retirees had dental coverage, which is not covered by Medicare.
Lack of regular oral health care has serious consequences, the report says, including increased risk of respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, as well as inappropriate use of hospital emergency departments for preventable dental diseases. The report offers a vision of oral health care in which prevention of oral diseases and promotion of oral health are a priority and a facet of overall health.
Although all states must provide comprehensive dental benefits for children enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), they are not required to provide such benefits for adults. Because publicly funded programs are the primary source of health coverage for underserved populations, including dental benefits for all Medicaid beneficiaries is a critical and necessary goal, the report says. Toward that end, the committee recommended that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services fund and evaluate state-based demonstration projects that cover essential oral health benefits for adult Medicaid beneficiaries. In addition, Medicaid and CHIP reimbursement rates for providers should be increased and administrative practices need to be streamlined to increase use by both dental providers and patients.
To maximize access to oral health care, state legislatures should amend existing laws so that hygienists, assistants, and other dental professionals can practice to the full extent of their training and can work in a variety of settings under appropriate evidence-based levels of supervision. In spite of national accreditation standards for education and training of oral health professionals, regulations defining supervision and scope-of-practice parameters vary widely from state to state and even by procedure. Legislation should also allow dental professionals to collaborate and supervise remotely via conferencing technology.
The uneven distribution of the dental work force, both in geographic dispersion as well as in specialization, is a long-recognized challenge, the report notes. In addition, graduating dental students report that they feel unprepared to care for older patients and those with special needs.
The report says that efforts should be made to increase recruitment and support for dental students from minority, lower-income, and rural populations, as well as to boost the number of dental faculty with expertise caring for underserved and vulnerable populations. In addition, the Health Resources and Services Administration should dedicate Title VII funding to aid and expand opportunities for dental residencies in community-based settings. These residencies should take place in geographically underserved areas and include clinical experiences with young children, individuals with special health care needs, and older adults.
The study was sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration and the California HealthCare Foundation. Established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the
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Pre-publication copies of Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).
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and
National Research Council
Committee on Oral Health Access to Services
Frederick P. Rivara, M.D., M.P.H. (chair)
Seattle Children’s Guild Endowed
Chair in Pediatrics, and
Professor of Pediatrics
Paul C. Erwin, M.D., Dr.P.H.
Professor and Chair
Department of Public Health
Caswell A. Evans Jr., D.D.S., M.P.H.
Associate Dean for Prevention and Public Health Sciences
Theodore G. Ganiats, M.D.
Professor
Department of Family and Preventive Medicine
Shelly Gehshan, M.P.P.
Director
Pew Children’s Dental Campaign
Kathy Voigt Geurink, R.D.H., B.S., M.A.
Clinical Associate Professor
Department of Dental Hygiene
University of
Paul Glassman, D.D.S., M.A., M.B.A.
Professor of Dental Practice, and
Director of Community Oral Health
University of the Pacific
David M. Krol, M.D., M.P.H.
Team Director, and
Senior Program Officer
Human Capital
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Jane Perkins, J.D., M.P.H.
Legal Director
National Health Law Program
Margaret A. Potter, M.S., J.D.
Associate Dean;
Director,
Center for Public Health
Practice; and
Associate Professor of Health Policy
and Management
Graduate
Renee Samelson, M.D., M.P.H., FACOG
Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Phyllis W. Sharps, Ph.D., RN, CNE, FAAN
Professor and Associate Dean
Community and Global Programs
Linda H. Southward, Ph.D., ACSW
Research Fellow and Research Professor
Starksville
Maria Rosa Watson, D.D.S., M.S., Dr.P.H.
Research Director
Primary Care Coalition of
Silver Spring, Md.
Barbara Wolfe, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics and Population Health Sciences, and
Public Affairs and Faculty Affiliate
Institute for Research on Poverty
STAFF
Tracy A. Harris, D.P.M, M.P.H.
Study Director