The importance of Medicaid in dental care

It was last January 22 of this year when a dental resident named Madison Galloway checked on the teeth of a boy named Justin. He is 11 years of age and during his visit at the Riley Hospital for Kids Department of Pediatric Dentistry located in Indianapolis.  The federal report stated that 3 of every 4 kids didn’t get all of the needed dental services, like the regular dental checkup, fluoride application, dental propylaxis and others in the programs being offered by Medicaid in 4 different states. 1 in every kids failed to see a dentist throughout their life.  In Chicago, 3 of every 4 kids are covered by the Medicaid in 4 states that didn’t actually get all the needed dental care in 2 years time, this is in accordance to the federal report that suggests that the government should persuade in improving the access of the people to dental care.

Even if there is Medicaid, the kids never knew they must go to a dentist

1 in every 4 kids never gets the chance to see a dentist in their lifetime. Some of the reasons why this is so is that the dentists are just less in numbers, especially those who are accepting Medicaid patients and those who were not educated about the essence of getting a proper dental care. In the year 2007, a 12 year old Deamonte Driver in Maryland dies from an infection. It was said that it started with an abscessed tooth. This turns the national attention to a never ending economic discrepancy in the oral care of the kids. There was a report sent just recently that the problem is still in existence to this day. The investigators checked the Medicaid dental claims for 2011-2012 in 4 various states like California, Louisiana, and Maryland and in Indiana. The states had served around 1/5 of all the kids with Medicaid and they are thought to be a usual of the nation entirely.

The issues have not yet improved with more coverage, which is under the Obama’s health overhaul according to experts.  Pres. Obama offered the Affordable Care Act insurance expansion that started in 2014. It started and is ongoing to provide services to more families who are actually competing for fewest numbers of dentists participating in Medicaid; this is in accordance with the statement released by the deputy regional inspector who released the report. They have discovered that there is a noteworthy number of kids, 28% of them never knew that they must go to a dentist to have their teeth checked and cleaned for more than 2 years even if they are under the Medicaid care. They have discovered this data and this is becoming a big issue.

The Medicaid will cover for the dental care and services for more than 37M kids from low income earning families. The state along with the federal Medicaid program differs from one state to another; however, there are some national shortages of dentists who have joined