Maryland is 96% fluoridated, yet:
• 42,327 Maryland adults visited emergency departments with chronic dental conditions during fiscal year 2016, at an average charge of $537, for a total charge of $22.7 million.
• Medicaid paid for 53 percent of the visits — 22,254 of them — with an average charge of $446 per visit for a total charge of almost $10 million.
• 25 percent returned within a year with a similar complaint, most within 15 days. For those patients, the total charge was $2.3 million and the readmission rate for dental care was much higher for Medicaid-enrolled patients than for all other conditions.
• 145 of the patients required hospitalization, with an average charge of $9,900 per visit, for a total of $1.4 million.
• Altogether, the total Medicaid charges for emergency department visits for chronic dental complaints were $11.3 million.
• Altogether, the total Medicaid charges for emergency department
visits for chronic dental complaints were $11.3 million
In Washington County, there were 1,184 emergency department visits
for chronic dental conditions among adults. More than half — 630 — were Medicaid
recipients. The total charge for the Medicaid patients was $297,045.
