For children, oral disease can mean living with pain, missing valuable school time, challenges in learning, impaired nutrition and health, and sometimes even death. The Cost of Delay: State Dental Policies Fail One in Five Children, a report released this week by Pew Center on the States, highlights the efforts of the Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH), the Rhode Island Department of Human Services (DHS) and community partners to develop and implement programs and policies to increase oral health capacity and improve oral health care for low-income children in Rhode Island.
The report focuses on five areas of success in Rhode Island: Ÿ The number of dental providers that provide services to children with Medicaid coverage increased from 27 to 269 since 2006. Ÿ More than half of the high-risk schools in the state have a school-based dental program that provides services such as dental exams, cleanings and sealants for children. Ÿ Nearly 85% of Rhode Islanders have drinking water with fluoride. Fluoride is a proven, cost-effective way to prevent cavities. Ÿ The Rhode Island Medicaid program pays providers for early, preventive dental health care. Through RIte Smiles, dental providers can be reimbursed forpreventive dental services for children by the time the first tooth comes in. Ÿ Rhode Island currently ranks sixth in the nation for the percentage of Rhode Island children younger than age 21 enrolled in the Medicaid program that receive dental care, with 46%, up from 38% in 2006.
“These results are a testament to the hard work of the RI Oral Health Commission, the staff, and our community partners to address critical oral health issues that affect children in our state,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Gary D. Alexander. “We’ve made excellent progress in increasing access to dental care for children on Medicaid and also by encouraging parents to bring their child to the dentist at an earlier age.”
“Preventive oral health care is critical to good, lifelong general health,” said Director of Health David R. Gifford, MD. MPH. “With all of our community partners, we have made significant improvements that will benefit children enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program. However, our work is not done. We need to continue to recruit oral health providers and adopt new practice rules for hygienists in school sealant programs.”
To view the complete report from the Pew Center, visit http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/Cost_of_Delay_web.pdf. For more information on Rite Smiles, visit www.dhs.ri.gov > Families with Children>Dental Care.