Los Angeles County record dismal for enabling poor children to get needed dental services - DailyBulletin.com

Los Angeles is fluoridated:
Los Angeles County record dismal for enabling poor children to get needed dental services - DailyBulletin.com: As a result, many children suffer for months with painful or rotted teeth before seeing a dentist or getting a referral to a specialist, dentists and children's advocates say.

N. Carolina kids high decay rates despite fluoridation

 North Carolina is 88% fluoridation. When North Carolina’s children enter kindergarten,37% of them have already been affected by tooth decay in their primary teeth [3], which is a strong predictorof tooth decay in permanent teeth


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Tennessee's dental health among worst in nation | Washington Examiner

Tennessee's dental health among worst in nation  despite widespread fluoridation: The dental health care for Tennesseans ranks among the worst in the nation, which has sent more patients to the emergency room and caused more adults to lose teeth to decay and disease.

States improve in dental care among low-income children

States improve in dental care among low-income children - Local News - Chattanooga, TN - msnbc.com: Jeffrey Parker, CEO of Sarrell Dental clinics, knows about the laws. Sarrell is a nonprofit that provides care to Medicaid kids in Alabama, taking only Medicaid fees with no government grants or private donations. It operates more like a hospital than a dental clinic, with a chief dental officer who oversees and peer-reviews all dentists on staff, Parker said.

There are now 14 Sarrell clinics spread across the state, providing care to more than 105,000 kids last year.

Parker, a retired businessman, took over the non-profit Sarrell clinics in 2005 and waged a battle with the Alabama Dental Association and the Alabama Board of Dental Examiners for several years. Before the governor signed a law in 2011 that gave Sarrell the right to continue operating in the state, the dental groups opposed the clinics, calling them "illegal."

The Medicaid System: 15 Million Kids Not Getting Dental Care

The Medicaid System: 15 Million Kids Not Getting Dental Care - Dental Health Magazine: A study released a few months ago (late 2011) revealed that even though there are huge efforts put into making the situation of the patient-provider in the Medicaid system much better, patients coming from low income families had very limited access to proper dental care. Those who had access to these dental services through Medicaid, were those who actually paid an out of pocket amount for the treatments they received.

The biggest problem seems to be in the case of children, because they are the ones who suffer from the ignorance of the grown ups. Dentists don’t want to accept working through Medicaid because of the low reimbursement rates, and Medicaid doesn’t make any huge efforts to motivate dentists to take on more patients. This is a true vicious circle, where sadly the little ones and the poorest ones are paying the highest price.

Nothing to Smile About - Margot Sanger-Katz - NationalJournal.com

Nothing to Smile About - Margot Sanger-Katz - NationalJournal.com: Medicare does not pay for dental care at all—during its creation, dentists feared price-fixing and lobbied against inclusion—so 70 percent of seniors lack any dental coverage, according to an Institute of Medicine report

Physicians sink their teeth into dental care

Dartmouth Medicine Magazine :: Vital Signs : Physicians sink their teeth into dental care: Dr. Melanie Lawrence, a family physician in (fluoridated) Bradford, Vt., is tired of seeing toddlers with teeth so decayed they need to be pulled.