April 13, 2004

By: Alida Vargas
Website: http://www.teeth-whitening-smiles.com

Dental Care Crisis – Kansas City Children Face Dental Care Crisis

Low-income children in Kansas City have severely limited access to dental services, according to a new report released today by Citizens for Missouri's Children.

The report, Dental Care Counts: Decay in the Heartland: A Crisis for Kansas City Children, exposes the tremendous difficulty low-income families insured by MC+/Medicaid have finding a dentist who will treat their children. According to the report:

• In the greater Kansas City area, there are 923 low-income children on MC+/Medicaid for every dentist willing to serve them;
• Only 15 percent of practicing dentists in the Kansas City area currently accept MC+ /Medicaid patients;
• Many of the 90,000 low-income children on MC+/Medicaid in the Kansas City area are not receiving preventive dental care services, and these children often use Missouri hospitals and emergency rooms for preventable oral health problems.

The Missouri dental care safety-net for children needs some mending of its own, says Joe Squillace, health policy analyst at Citizens for Missouri's Children. Missouri children deserve better access to dental care and greater opportunities for healthy development.

Barry Daneman, Director of Advancement and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Dentistry, states: This report verifies what many of us already suspected: Medicaid is not meeting the oral health needs of Kansas City's most vulnerable children.

The report examines eight Missouri counties around Kansas City: Clay, Henry, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Platte, Ray and St. Clair. A similar study by CMC three years ago found similar problems in the St. Louis area. The new report highlights the persistence of those problems, says Squillace.

The report calls for action from the federal government, Missouri state legislators, the Governor, state agencies and the Health Maintenance Organizations that administer the state's Medicaid program to:

• Raise MC+/Medicaid reimbursement rates for dentists;
• Link dental services to schools and other community facilities;
• Create legislation allowing dental hygienists to practice in schools; license foreign-trained dentists; allow not-for-profit organizations to own a dental practice; allow retiring dentists to donate their practices to not-for-profits for tax credits; and improve coordination of voluntary and charity services.

  The federal government called upon states in 2000 to increase the number of children receiving preventive services, notes Squillace. However, less than one-third of Missouri's children receiving MC+/Medicaid services even receive a yearly screening from a dentist or dental hygienist.

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  Author Notes:

  Alida Vargas contributes and publishes news editorial to http://www.teeth-whitening-smiles.com.  Everything you need to know to get a whiter, brighter smile!