Wisconsin Medicaid enrollees’ recurrent use of emergency departments and physicians’ offices for treatment of nontraumatic dental conditions

Wisconsin is 90% fluoridated. Yet 24,000 Medicaid enrollees made dental related visits to Emergency Rooms and Physician offices, with 6.5 percent estimated to be frequent users of such care. People aged 19 to 42 years were more likely to be frequent users. Most dentists refuse Medicaid patients and are costing the US healthcare system hundreds of millions of dollars to fix the extensive tooth decay that could have been prevented with a cheap filling.

Wisconsin Medicaid enrollees’ recurrent use of emergency departments and physicians’ offices for treatment of nontraumatic dental conditions: "The effect of living in an area with a shortage of dental health care professionals did not affect the likelihood of being a frequent user of EDs and POs for such care."

Fluoride / Flouride / Fluoridation / Flouridation - John Yiamouyiannis

With low Medicaid reimbursements, Florida worst at helping low-income kids get dental care - St. Petersburg Times

Florida dentists prefer to treat the water and not low-income children. 78% of Florida's public water supplies are fluoridated "Across Florida, thousands of children and adults go about their daily lives with missing teeth, untreated toothaches and worsening tooth decay."

With low Medicaid reimbursements, Florida worst at helping low-income kids get dental care - St. Petersburg Times:

Report Brief - Institute of Medicine

Report Brief - Institute of Medicine:

"Poor oral health can be attributed to a number of factors, including uneven and limited access to oral health care and dental coverage, lack of appropriate quality measures in oral health care, inadequate health literacy among the U.S. populace, and lack of attention to oral health among primary care providers. While access has improved over time, many people—typically those who are most vulnerable—still lack the oral health services they need. Accessing oral health care is particularly difficult for certain populations, including people whose income falls below the federal poverty level, African Americans, Latinos, and children covered by Medicaid."

"HHS has suffered from a lack of high-level accountability, coordination among its own agencies, resources, and sustained interest in oral health."

Some Texas Dentists Bad-Mouth Anti-Cavity Bill — Health and Human Services Commission | The Texas Tribune

Texas Dentists Choose No Dental Care for Poor Kids

Some Texas Dentists Bad-Mouth Anti-Cavity Bill — Health and Human Services Commission | The Texas Tribune: "Jason Sabo, senior vice president for the United Ways of Texas, said the rule that parents must accompany kids to get a Medicaid reimbursement creates an artificial barrier for low-income, working families. “It’s saying, if you want access to dental care, if you want your kids to get sealants, I guess you have to quit your job,” he said. “We live in a world where kids’ teeth are rotting out of their head while they’re trying to take a TAKS test.”"

Dr. Jennifer Bankler, dental health coordinator with the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, said the goal isn’t to tear kids away from private practices — it’s to get them the help they need. Seven to 10 percent of the children her mobile unit sees have urgent dental needs, she said; many are sitting in class suffering. “These kids are uninsured, underinsured,” she said. “We’re trying to reach those kids that don’t have a dental home, to work with families to help them find a dental home.”

Fluoride Generation Kids teeth in decay � Indaily's Blog

Fluoride Generation Kids teeth in decay

A NATIONWIDE survey of 32,000 schoolchildren will try to determine why Australian kids have such poor teeth despite the billions of dollars spent on dental health in the past decade.

These are also the kids of the so-called Fluoride Generation, for whom fluoridated water supplies are the norm and fillings are supposed to be a thing of the past."

Australian children have terrible teeth, researchers say, and oral health is decaying | Adelaide Now

Over 75% of Australia is fluoridated. Yet, "Adelaide University will spend $1.3 million to find out why oral hygeine amongst Aussie kid's is getting worse."

Australian children have terrible teeth, researchers say, and oral health is decaying | Adelaide Now

Getting to the root of poor dental care for poor, uninsured - Utica, NY - The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York

Utica, NY is fluoridated: "Dental residents at Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare in Utica treat about 1,500 walk-in dental emergency patients a year, most of whom are on Medicaid or don’t have their own dentist.

Many come in with advanced tooth decay, facial swelling and pain from a lack of routine dental care,..."

Getting to the root of poor dental care for poor, uninsured - Utica, NY - The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York:

Child dental crisis | Phoenix News | Arizona News | azfamily.com | Health News

"The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry reported this week we have a dental crisis, with 2 to 35 percent of children aged 2 to 5 showing tooth decay." This after 65+ years of water fluoridation twhich has reached more people this year than ever.

Child dental crisis | Phoenix News | Arizona News | azfamily.com | Health News: