Thursday, July 29, 2010

Welcome to the Wisconsin Dental Association - WDA Mission of Mercy provides 2,038 patients with $900,000 in free care

Wisconsin is 90% fluoridated: "The Wisconsin Dental Association Mission of Mercy provides 2,038 patients with $900,000 in free care: "Patients ranged in age from a 1-year-old boy to a 91-year-old woman. They traveled from more than 100 cities and towns across Wisconsin and several other states to obtain care at this large-scale, charitable event. The first four patients waited in line for almost 20 hours after setting up a tent at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday."

"A total of 7,572 dental procedures were performed, including 1,540 fillings, 1,630 teeth extracted, 904 cleanings and 15 root canals. Several dental labs worked with volunteer technicians to create 96 partial dentures."

“This experience reinforced how many people are in need of dental care in our state, but it is also clear these events are not the solution to the problem. Dental care needs to be part of comprehensive health care and we must make sure people are receiving these essential services,” said Seidel,...”

UF | College of Dentistry : Continuing Education : 2010 Courses : FDA Component Online Registration Page

UF | College of Dentistry: "Despite many scientific advances in our understanding of Early Childhood Caries (ECC), the United States has not seen an improvement in the oral health of young children in the last 20 years." This despite 65 years of water fluoridation in the US reaching 70% on public water supplies and virtually 100% via the food supply made with that water. Despite the evidence that US children are fluoride-overdosed and dentist-deficient, dentists are taught to give our babies even more fluoride. It makes money for dentists but does no good for children. Shame.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Severe State Budget Shortfalls Trigger Medicaid Program Cuts

Severe State Budget Shortfalls Trigger Medicaid Program Cuts:

" The Fiscal Times reports that the recession and a 'shortage of pediatric dentists who accept Medicaid' may be contributing to an 15 percent increase in the 'number of cavities in children between the ages of two and five,' in the past 10 years. 'In addition, many states - the most recent being California - have dropped their coverage for parents, which is a factor in their child's dental visits. ... Under President Obama's health care reform bill, Medicaid will be expanded, allowing more children to be covered for dental services. Starting in 2014, health plans purchased through the state-run Health Benefit Exchange must also include pediatric oral care for dependents under 21' (Briody, 7/20)."

Common problems Carroll County dentists are encountering

Common problems Carroll County dentists are encountering:

Carroll County, Maryland is fluoridated:

"Mersinger said that he is seeing cavities more in children, and usually it comes from sugar in their diet."

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Tri-County Community Dental Clinic in Grand Chute reaches out to children | thenorthwestern.com | Oshkosh Northwestern

Tri-County Community Dental Clinic in Grand Chute reaches out to children | thenorthwestern.com | Oshkosh Northwestern:

Wisconsin is 90% fluoridated:

"'We see 34 patients a day now, 12 to 13 percent are emergencies and about 10 percent of our emergencies are children,' he said. 'If we can get children on the right track to take good care of their teeth, we think we can reduce that number.'"

ISDS Foundation

Fluoridation is state-mandated in Illinois. Yet people suffer in dental pain until free dental care is offered.

ISDS Foundation:

"Illinois’ Inaugural Mission of Mercy
June 11-12, 2010

1,953 Patients
6,902 Procedures
1,365 Teeth Filled
702 Cleanings
1,739 Extractions
72 Root Canals

Over 950 volunteers providing nearly $1 million in dental care"

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Kids and Dental Health: Rising Costs and Struggling State Programs a Dangerous Mix - Kaiser Health News

Kids and Dental Health: Rising Costs and Struggling State Programs a Dangerous Mix - Kaiser Health News:

"In 2009, the total dental expense for children in the U.S. was approximately $30.6 billion, one-third of all spending on dental care. Dental costs are roughly 20 percent of a child’s total health care expenses, and these costs are growing quickly. According to the Pew report, total annual spending for dental care is expected to increase 58 percent — from $101.9 billion to $161.4 billion — between 2009 and 2018."

“'The use of ambulatory surgery for dental problems is among the top five reasons for [same-day] surgery in kids under five,'”

"Both costs and tooth decay are rising for children under five. According to a 2007 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study, in the past decade, the number of cavities in children between the ages of two and five has increased 15 percent. For children with families living under the poverty line, it’s even worse: They’re twice as likely to have untreated tooth decay. “It sort of gives us pause to think about what the future might be,” says Dr. Crall. “'Tooth decay in primary teeth is one of the better predictors as to whether kids are going to have tooth decay in permanent teeth.'”

Monday, July 19, 2010

Affordable dental care among concerns in city
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20107180314

Sioux Falls, South Dakata is fluoridated: "Franken also acknowledged that her department is running flat-out to keep up with demand for affordable dental care. From a single dentist, two assistants and a dental hygienist attached to the Community Health Clinic in 2001, dental services at the clinic have expanded to three dentists. They saw 4,000 patients but still didn't meet all the need, Franken said."

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Tooth decay rates rising among young Canadians

Tooth decay rates rising among young Canadians:

Toronto, Canada is fluoridated: "According to a survey conducted by Toronto Public Health the prevalence of early tooth decay in five-year olds studied at public schools in the city has risen from 9.8 per cent in 1999-2000 to 11.6 per cent in 2005-06, while the percentage of five-year-olds with two or more untreated decayed teeth increased from 9.9 per cent to 14.6 per cent in the same six-year stretch."

Friday, July 16, 2010

Lack of dental care leads to higher number of ER cases in Springfield MO:


Springfield, Missouri is fluoridated: "-- One of the most common reasons that people visit the emergency room here is probably not what you'd think: it's dental pain."

"for patients 20 to 39 years old, dental cases make up more than 7 percent of all ER visits in Greene County. They make up 10 percent of all Medicaid visits, and a whopping 37 percent of all uninsured visits"

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Millions of children go
to bed in pain every night


After 65 years of water fluoridation in the U.S., "Millions of children go
to bed in dental pain every night," because dentists prefer to treat the water of low-income people rather than their teeth.

York, Pennsylvania is fluoridated: "Imagine 8-year-old Antron’s fear when a
dentist doing screenings at his York, Pennsylvania,
elementary school discovers
he has a mouthful of cavities, four
teeth that are so broken down by decay
they must be extracted, and several
abscesses. Brushing his teeth only every
other day didn’t help, but his parents were
never taught the importance of caring
for baby teeth. He didn’t complain about
any tooth pain, but underserved children
generally don’t. They are very stoic and
most often suffer in silence."

"Millions of American children like
Antron are at risk for lifelong health problems
and even death from a 100 percent
preventable disease. Consider this: pediatric
dental disease increases insurance
and medical costs for everyone; decreases
work productivity; and causes millions of
missed school hours every year. Untreated,
it results in malnourishment in children
who cannot eat properly, causes parents
to overmedicate their children for pain,
and sends them too frequently to hospital
ERs"

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Study: Hospital Emergency Room Visits Attributed to Dental Caries

After 65 years of water fluoridation in the United States, 330,757 visits to hospital emergency departments were attributed to dental caries in the year 2006. The mean charge for each emergency department visit was $380.52 and the total charges across the nation were close to $110 million.

Among those that required hospitalization, the mean hospitalization charges including the emergency department charge was $16,046 and the mean length of stay in hospital was 3.29 days. We were able to identify high risk groups who presented more frequently to hospital emergency departments with dental caries. Those groups were the uninsured, those who reside in large fringe metropolitan or medium metropolitan counties, and those residing in areas where the household income is below $47,000. [Note they weren't the non-fluoridated communities]

http://iadr.confex.com/iadr/2010barce/webprogram/Paper131519.html

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Dentists? They're strangers to 1 in 4 California kids | Booster Shots | Los Angeles Times

Dentists used their political might to get California legislators to force California cities to spend millions of dollars adding fluoride chemicals into drinking water supplies so they would have an excuse to not actually treat low-income people. They prefer treating their drinking water.

Dentists? They are strangers to 1 in 4 California kids Los Angeles Times: "It's not a pretty picture, the overall state of dental care for California's kids. That's because too many of them -- one-quarter, to be exact -- don't have it. Yep. One in 4 have never even been to a dentist.

That attention-grabbing statistic is from a dental-care study released Wednesday and published in the July issue of the journal Health Affairs. It analyzed care -- or, rather, lack thereof -- for children ages 11 and under in the so-called Golden State."

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Is coverage decaying? - JSOnline

Is coverage decaying? - JSOnline:

Dentists say state needs to do more to help needy patients. Wisconsin is 90% fluoridated

"Going to the dentist can be a pain - but for Scott Oster, the pain came from not being able to find one.

A toothache led Oster, 48, to enroll in the state's BadgerCare program for dental care. But after calling every dental office on the agency's list, Oster came up empty.

'I've got the insurance; there's just nobody that accepts it,' said Oster, an unemployed welder. 'I never dealt with the same person twice. That was one part that really drove me nuts.'

A Journal Sentinel reporter called every dental office listed for the city of Milwaukee on the BadgerCare Plus website. Of the 114 providers listed, only three were accepting new BadgerCare patients."

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Water Fluoridation May Be Harmful to Your Health