Many Children Face ‘Silent Epidemic’ in Dental Care

Dental care is oftentimes viewed as a luxury – a means to a bright smile – but it is essential to overall medical health.

For those who can afford it, dental care in Maine is top-notch. There are many others, however, who cannot afford, or are unable to access, proper dental care. For children particularly, this is a serious health issue that Maine should address.

Like many rural states, Maine has a shortage of dentists – there are only about 600 licensed practitioners in the state. Last year, 285 of those dentists provided at least one service to a MaineCare member. A total of 42,000 children received services through MaineCare – representing less than a third of the 110,000 eligible. That’s a low number, and calls for improvement.

Dental care providers can take as many, or as few, MaineCare patients as they want. Often they do not because of MaineCare’s low reimbursement rate – about half – and the perception that paperwork is problematic.

The state has made strides in streamlining the paperwork, and has made efforts to to provide technical billing assistance to providers. The state has also made improvements in ensuring that patients get to their appointments – a long-standing problem for lower-income people. MaineCare is also working on a $900,000 Dental Incentive Plan, to help bridge the payment gap.

On behalf of children in urgent need of dental care, Portland recently made an effort to reach out for help from dentists. The city sent out "Just Take One" letters to 80 area providers asking them to add a young MaineCare patient, or one without insurance. Only six providers responded.

More funding would help, but the state can only do so much. Perhaps the Maine Dental Association can ask its members to help address the problem. The MDA points out that many dentists are unable to add any new patients, MaineCare or not, because they are already operating at peak levels. Surely, however, there is some way that even a busy office can accommodate "just one" new child.

Meanwhile, Maine should resolve its critical shortage of dentists. The MDA deserves praise for an ongoing campaign aimed at students in New England’s four dental schools, hoping to convince graduates that Maine is a great place to work and live.

That kind of forward thinking is necessary, and will go a long way to help alleviate what the American Dental Association has called a "silent epidemic" among children.