Expanding dental care access is a smart investment

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It used to be that cavities were an expected rite of passage for kids, especially kids from low-income families.

Children in low-income households are more likely to face the greatest barriers to accessing care and experience the painful effects of untreated tooth decay. But thanks in large part to the Access to Baby and Child Dentistry (ABCD) program, that’s not necessarily the case anymore for more than half of the children with Apple Health coverage, our state’s Medicaid program.

ABCD helps low-income children ages five and under get preventive dental care and early treatment before problems worsen. The ABCD model is a proven approach that has helped more than 173,000 low-income children receive dental care.

The result: more than half of eligible children are receiving care in Clark County and statewide, compared to 21 percent 17 years ago. And, the percentage of children with untreated cavities has been cut in half. While there is still more work to do to make sure all kids get the dental care they need, this is important progress.

Now lawmakers have approved a pilot program, Oral Health Connections, that will use the ABCD approach to provide dental care access to low-income pregnant women and people with diabetes. This is a smart approach that allows the state build on ABCD’s success to expand care for two additional vulnerable groups.

As with ABCD currently, this measured approach can improve health and spare people from needless suffering. I’d like to thank the Legislature for recognizing this opportunity and including funding for Oral Health Connections in the final budget.

Studies have shown that pregnant women and diabetes patients who receive dental care experience improved health, fewer complications and shorter hospital stays than those who do not.

Yet dental providers in Washington receive some of the lowest reimbursement rates in the nation for treating Medicaid-insured adults, which limits a dentist’s ability to care for low-income patients. Less than a quarter (22 percent) of Clark County’s low-income adults saw a dentist in 2015.



Oral Health Connections will use a model that works to begin to address dental care access challenges for Medicaid-insured adults. Through enhanced reimbursement rates for providers serving Apple Health insured pregnant women and people with diabetes, patient outreach, and oral health education, we can increase access to care and improve health outcomes.

There’s no denying that good oral health is essential for us all and that its effects go beyond the mouth. People are able to live healthier and more fruitful lives when they are pain-free. Job opportunities increase. Equally important, timely access to preventive care and early intervention allows for a person to avoid more expensive problems from untreated oral disease.

For those who are able to get care, the experience can be transformative. For pregnant women, it means healthier pregnancies and babies less likely to develop oral disease. And treating gum disease in people with diabetes has been linked to increased blood sugar control and fewer diabetes-related complications and hospitalizations.

ABCD, which started in our state, has been recognized nationally and duplicated in other states because it has helped lead to better oral health, improved quality of life and increased access to care for thousands of young children. And now our state has the opportunity to build on these successes for pregnant women and people with diabetes.

­— Dr. Remy Eussen practices pediatric dentistry in Vancouver. He has championed the ABCD program in Clark, Cowlitz,

Klickitat and Skamania Counties.