"Private dentists often don’t want to be identified in the news media as accepting Medicaid for fear of being deluged with patients, according to the Illinois State Dental Society." Fluoridation is state-mandated in Illinois "In Springfield, 52 percent of second-graders in a program that provided them dental sealants, and 16.7 percent of seventh- and eighth-graders receiving free and reduced-priced lunches, had untreated tooth decay in 1999."