The American Dental Association Launches Effort to Combat U.S. Dental Care Crisis

 The American Dental Association Launches Effort to Combat U.S. Dental Care Crisis

Calling for immediate action to head off a growing dental care crisis, the American Dental Association (ADA) today announced the launch of Action for Dental Health: Dentists Making a Difference, a new campaign aimed at reducing the number of people with untreated dental disease.

The plan is being launched after the ADA published a series of research briefs showing that the Affordable Care Act will not provide dental help to many adults. Additionally, the plan was formulated after the ADA conducted a Harris Interactive Study showing a growing dental divide in the United States.

“We’ve made great progress, with each generation enjoying better dental health than the one before,” ADA President Robert A. Faiella, DMD, MMSc, said in a press release. “But there’s still a dangerous divide in America between those with good dental health and those without. Our mission is to close that divide. Good oral health isn’t a luxury. It’s essential.”

The Harris poll showed that lower income adults are less likely to regularly see a dentist and more likely to go to the emergency room for dental problem when compared with more affluent adults. To address this problem, the ADA is proposing a multi-faceted program addressing the need for expanded care for the underserved, creating a stronger dental safety net and providing more community-based oral health education and resources.

The ambitious goals include reducing the number of people who seek dental care in the emergency room by 35 percent by 2020, expanding care for nursing home residents as well as underserved children, increasing the number of general dentists working with both Federally Qualified Health Centers and Medicaid, and expanding local water fluoridation programs.

View Full Press Release

Source: The American Dental Association

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