The dental care crisis in America is not just a failure of health, it is a failure of justice. When we act justly, we are fair and honest, we operate with integrity and legality, and we respect the rights of everyone.
Across the country, millions of people, especially within AIDPH’s communities of focus — rural, veteran, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ — face substantial, systematic barriers to receiving basic dental care. Public health providers are severely underfunded, providers aren’t reaching underserved communities, and consumers are often forced to forgo important procedures due to prohibitive costs. These barriers perpetuate existing disparities while exacerbating other health conditions, leading to an ongoing cycle of health inequity and injustice.
Invest Upstream
When we don’t invest in upstream solutions we continue to pay the downstream costs: more extractions, greater prevalence of gum disease, more cavities, and significant edentulism.1 The available research and data compellingly support the statement that we are facing a dental crisis — and our collective action is a necessity. Improved access to care, more affordable services, and a focus on preventative health measures could significantly reduce the profound oral health disparity many of the nation’s underserved and marginalized communities bear.
A Call to Action
The evolution of dental care delivery and a just healthcare system must be a national priority. During the recent hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Expert Witness Lisa Simon, MD, DMD, stated, “Dental care is health care and health care is a human right.” That statement compels us to a clear call to action: protect the human right to health care.
This action can take many forms — listen to the hearing, offer or review testimony, support solutions-focused legislation by contacting policy-makers, share impact data, and demand change from policymakers and representatives, for instance. We all can find a way to act that creates a more just and equitable dental care system.
Americans as a whole want to see improvements in dental care. Polling from Data for Progress in January, 2024 found that 92% supported expanding Medicare to provide a comprehensive dental, vision, and hearing benefit.2
Solutions Focused
AIDPH urges policymakers and the dental public health community at large to consider the following solutions outlined in our written Senate testimony:
- Expand Medicaid and Medicare to require comprehensive dental benefits, evaluating expansion under Medicare Parts B and D.
- Increase the oral health workforce through funding, incentives, and loan repayment programs.
- Finance an integrated, value-based dental care delivery system and increase funding for Federally Qualified Health Centers.
- Expand VA Dental Eligibility to include high-cost, high-risk veterans with chronic diseases, saving taxpayer dollars.
Many of these recommendations can be found in the Comprehensive Dental Reform Act of 2024 introduced by Chairman Sanders. The act seeks to increase the number of dental professionals in rural and underserved areas; make dental services more accessible in community health centers, schools, nursing homes, and mobile units; establish dental care an essential benefit under the Affordable Care Act; and increase reimbursement rates for dental procedures under Medicaid.
Put this act on your watch list to track and support its progress. It’s up to all of us to create a more accessible, equitable, and just system of care that includes oral health.
Read the Comprehensive Dental Reform Act of 2024
1 Wilson, N. J., Lin, Z., Villarosa, A., & George, A. (2019). Oral health status and reported oral health problems in people with intellectual disability: A literature review. Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 44(3), 292–304. https://doi.org/10.3109/13668250.2017.1409596
2 Lew Blank. “Voters Strongly Support Expanding Medicare Coverage and Lowering the Eligibility Age” Data for Progress. January 12, 2024. https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2024/1/12/voters-strongly-support-expanding-medicare-coverage-and-lowering-the-eligibility-age