Oral Health in the News

A recent article in the NY Times (How to Manage Dental Costs, With or Without Insurance) does a great job of explaining the importance of including dental coverage in overall health insurance.The article points out the relatively small cost of preventive measures and taking care of problems when they are still small, as compared to the huge costs of fixing problem once it becomes large and overwhelming.

The article puts much of the responsibility on seeking affordable, preventive care on the patient. However, we know that there are many barriers to accessing and utilizing care, and that we must work together to make large-scale changes. There are many ways that we can improve oral health through systemic changes. For example, we can create school-based dental programs so kids can access care. We can make it easier to receive simple preventive treatments by allowing all health providers to provide them. And we can improve the MassHealth system so that more dentists in underserved areas can afford to treat these patients, so that we don’t have huge areas of the state that lack access to care.

A fantastic example of this type of advocacy is highlighted in The Gardner News (Advocates Speak Out on Improving Access to Dental Care). Over the summer, many speakers spoke at the statehouse to remind legislators that dental insurance is health insurance. Senator Harriette Chandler, Representative John Scibak, and Representative Ellen Story all testified in support of several bills. HCFA also helped organize a diverse panel for this hearing to emphasize several important aspects of this legislation, including Dr. Cynthia Stevens, the VP of Dental Services for Community Health Connections Health Centers in Fitchburg and Gardener. Dr. Stevens talked about how increasing reimbursement rates is essential to keeping the doors of health safety net and health centers open. According to Dr. Stevens, “The importance of [oral health] care to the health and well-being of our patients and our community cannot be understated.”

For more information about how to improve oral health, please visit www.hcfama.org/oralhealth.

-Christine Keeves