Millions Of Americans Do Not Get Proper Dental Care

A proper dental care and dental services are vital, both for our general health and for social health of the nation. However, according to the latest research, millions of citizens in today’s United States are not receiving proper dental care. Dental specialists from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and National Research Council have published a report saying that in modern US a great deal of citizens can’t have access to proper dental care and services due to certain “persistent and systemic” limits and barriers which are making this access to dental care problematic. The experts estimate that not less than 4 million people fall under this description, and this is definitely npt something to smile about.

According to the findings of the study, those are mainly economic, cultural and structural factors that contribute mainly to this situation. Currently, millions of children of poor families do not get regular check-ups because their families can not afford those. It is estimated that in 2008 the number of such children reached 4.6 million. The same situation is with senior citizens of the country. Specialists from the IOM report that in 2006, only about 38 percent of retired seniors had special medical insurance which was covering dental care and regular dental checkups as well.

Frederick Rivara, Seattle Children’s Guild Endowed Chair in Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, who is one of the authors of the report published recently in several scientific journals, comments on the study as the following. “The consequences of insufficient access to oral health care and resultant poor oral health—at both the individual and population levels—are far-reaching.”

“As the nation struggles to address the larger systemic issues of access to health care, we need to ensure that oral health is recognized as a basic component of overall health,” he adds.

The report includes several practical suggestions on increasing public awareness about the importance of dental care, as well as about maximizing public access to dental care and dental services. In particular, it is suggested to increase governmental support and participation of children in special programs like the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and others. Also, it is recommended to employ more services of dental students for low-income population of the country. Finally, it is suggested to employ more of innovative approaches and communication technologies for remote consultations and supervision.

Tags: dental care