The Effects of Medicaid Reimbursement Rates on Access to Dental Care

Compares efforts to improve Medicaid access to dental care in California with those in Alabama, Michigan, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington, and assesses the extent to which raising dentists' Medicaid reimbursement rates improved access

The Pew Center on the States: The Cost of Delay

Most Americans' dental health has never been better—but that is not true for an estimated 17 millionchildren in low-income families who lack access to dental care. A 2000 report by the U.S. Surgeon General called dental disease a "silent epidemic." Ten years later, too little has changed. Our report—a collaboration of the Pew Center on the States, the DentaQuest Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation—finds that two-thirds of the states are failing to ensure that disadvantaged children get the dental health care they need. Our report describes the severe costs of this preventable disease: lost school time, challenges learning, impaired nutrition and health, worsened job prospects in adulthood, and sometimes even death. The good news? This problem can be solved.

Help Wanted: A Policy Maker's Guide to New Dental Providers (Issue Brief)

Access to oral health care is becoming an increasingly serious problem for many people in the United States, particularly for children. The tragic death of 12-year-old Deamonte Driver in 2007 from complications of untreated tooth decay gave the nation a sobering reminder of the grim consequences that can result from a lack of dental care availability.The National Academy for State Health Policy and the Pew Center on the States, with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, conducted a comprehensive literature review and interviewed leading experts in several states to learn about options for expanding available care. This issue brief is a summary of the full report

Help Wanted: A Policy Maker's Guide to New Dental Providers (Full Report))

Based on a literature review and interviews, details for policy makers a new dental care model in which dental therapists, community dental health coordinators, and advanced dental hygiene practitioners help provide care to underserved populations