{"id":19437,"date":"2024-05-22T12:46:34","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T12:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/22\/us-dental-care-crisis-it-should-not-be-a-luxury-to-keep-your-teeth-in-your-mouth\/"},"modified":"2024-05-22T12:46:34","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T12:46:34","slug":"us-dental-care-crisis-it-should-not-be-a-luxury-to-keep-your-teeth-in-your-mouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/22\/us-dental-care-crisis-it-should-not-be-a-luxury-to-keep-your-teeth-in-your-mouth\/","title":{"rendered":"US dental care crisis: It should not be a luxury to keep your teeth in your mouth"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As chairman of the\u00a0Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, I recently held a hearing about the\u00a0dental\u00a0care\u00a0crisis in the United States.<\/p>\n

Ahead of that hearing, I asked Americans\u00a0from\u00a0across the country to share their experiences with\u00a0dental\u00a0care\u00a0in our country.<\/p>\n

The responses poured in\u00a0from\u00a0people who told us: \u2018I am in constant pain,\u2019 \u2018I can\u2019t afford\u00a0dental\u00a0care,\u2019 \u2018I can\u2019t find a dentist,\u2019 \u2018My insurance won\u2019t cover the\u00a0dental\u00a0procedures I need,\u2019 and \u2018I worry about my children\u2019s health.\u2019<\/p>\n

One person\u00a0from\u00a0Georgia told me that she has had temporary caps\u00a0on\u00a0her two front teeth after breaking them as a child. For 15 years, she hasn\u2019t been able to afford permanent replacements. Her caps flake off into her food every time she eats.<\/p>\n

A gentleman\u00a0from\u00a0Wisconsin shared that it will cost him $1,000 per tooth to get crowns to cover his cracked and broken teeth. He has\u00a0dental\u00a0insurance, but they won\u2019t cover the procedure.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

These are the type of responses you might expect if we were living in a third world country.\u00a0But we are living in the richest country in the history of the world.<\/p>\n

Today in America, nearly 70 million adults and nearly 8 million children have no\u00a0dental\u00a0insurance. Many of those who do have\u00a0dental\u00a0insurance find that coverage to be totally inadequate.<\/p>\n

In fact,\u00a0nearly half\u00a0of Americans who have\u00a0dental\u00a0insurance have skipped their appointments because they could not afford to pay for the procedures they need.<\/p>\n

Nearly\u00a0one out of every five\u00a0seniors in America have lost all of their natural teeth and, many of them cannot afford dentures.<\/p>\n

Among older Americans,\u00a070% have some sort of periodontal disease, which can lead to rheumatoid arthritis and cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0dental\u00a0crisis does not just impact\u00a0seniors.<\/p>\n

More than 40%\u00a0of children in America have tooth decay by the time they reach kindergarten \u2013 primarily because their parents could either not afford or could not find a dentist\u00a0on\u00a0time.<\/p>\n

The lack of affordable\u00a0dental\u00a0care\u00a0in America is especially acute for low-income Americans, pregnant women, people with disabilities, veterans, those who live in rural communities, and Black, Latino and Native Americans.<\/p>\n

The situation has become so absurd, that every year hundreds of thousands of Americans travel to countries like\u00a0Mexico, Costa Rica, India, Thailand and Hungary, where it is much less expensive to get the\u00a0dental\u00a0care\u00a0they need \u2013 even after paying for round-trip airfare and hotel stays.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not difficult to understand why:<\/p>\n

A\u00a0dental\u00a0implant in America can cost about $5,500 compared to around $850 in Mexico, $800 in Costa Rica and $450 in India.
\nThe average price of a root canal in America is $1,275 compared to less than $250 in Mexico.
\nA Zirconia crown in America can cost about $2,500 compared to around $500 in Mexico, $450 in Costa Rica and $215 in India.
\nDentures that cost about $1,800 in America can be purchased in Mexico for around $670.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear.\u00a0When we talk about\u00a0dental\u00a0care, we\u2019re not just talking about having straight teeth and a pretty smile.<\/p>\n

If people don\u2019t receive high-quality\u00a0dental\u00a0care\u00a0they are in danger of living their lives in severe pain.<\/p>\n

A major cause of absenteeism\u00a0from\u00a0school is toothaches and\u00a0dental\u00a0pain.<\/p>\n

Nearly half of adults in America have some form of periodontal disease, which makes them two to three times more likely to have a heart attack, stroke or some other serious cardiovascular emergency.<\/p>\n

And when your teeth are in bad shape and you cannot chew your food properly, you are at greater risk of diabetes, digestive problems and poor birth outcomes.<\/p>\n

If we are going to seriously address the\u00a0dental\u00a0crisis in America, Congress is going to have to act boldly.<\/p>\n

That is why I recently introduced the most comprehensive piece of\u00a0dental\u00a0care\u00a0legislation in the history of our country.<\/p>\n

Let me very briefly describe what this legislation would do.<\/p>\n

First, it would substantially expand the number of dentists,\u00a0dental\u00a0hygienists and\u00a0dental\u00a0therapists in America \u2013 particularly in rural and underserved areas.\u00a0 In my view, it is unacceptable that 67%\u00a0of rural communities in America are designated as\u00a0Dental\u00a0Professional Shortage Areas.\u00a0What that means is that millions of rural Americans in our country either have to travel long distances to get to a dentist or simply go without the\u00a0care\u00a0they need. This bill would seriously address that issue.<\/p>\n

Second, we need to make sure that the dentists we do have start serving more low-income people.\u00a0In America today,\u00a0only a third of our dentists provide\u00a0care\u00a0to people on\u00a0Medicaid, and\u00a0only a very small percentage are providing\u00a0care\u00a0for those who are underserved.\u00a0This legislation would address that issue by increasing reimbursement rates for\u00a0dental\u00a0procedures under Medicaid.<\/p>\n

Third, we have got to substantially expand high quality and comprehensive\u00a0dental\u00a0insurance in America.\u00a0It is unacceptable that about half of our nation\u2019s\u00a0seniors do not have comprehensive\u00a0dental\u00a0insurance because traditional Medicare does not cover most\u00a0dental\u00a0procedures.\u00a0It is also unacceptable that 12 million adults and children throughout the country lost Medicaid\u00a0dental\u00a0coverage last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Further, when our nation\u2019s veterans are 60% more likely to experience tooth decay than non-veterans, it makes no\u00a0sense that the vast majority of veterans who receive medical\u00a0care\u00a0through the VA are not eligible for\u00a0dental\u00a0coverage.\u00a0That is why this bill expands Medicare, Medicaid and the VA to provide comprehensive\u00a0dental\u00a0coverage to every\u00a0senior, veteran and low-income person in America and makes\u00a0dental\u00a0care\u00a0an essential benefit under the Affordable\u00a0Care\u00a0Act.<\/p>\n

Finally, this bill would substantially expand\u00a0dental\u00a0care\u00a0services that community health centers provide in schools and nursing homes all over America.\u00a0In 2022, Federally Qualified Health Centers provided\u00a0dental\u00a0care\u00a0to over 6 million people across the country regardless of their ability to pay.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In my state of Vermont, 9 out of our 11 health centers provide quality, affordable\u00a0dental\u00a0care\u00a0to nearly 40,000 people across the state. Moreover, most of the health centers in Vermont also offer\u00a0dental\u00a0services in schools.\u00a0Nationally, 89% of health centers offered\u00a0dental\u00a0services.\u00a0In my view, we should expand\u00a0dental\u00a0care\u00a0to all health centers in America and that\u2019s precisely what this bill would do.<\/p>\n

All over America people are finding themselves in terrible pain. They can\u2019t find a dentist to treat their problems.<\/p>\n

It should not be a luxury in this country to keep the teeth in your mouth.<\/p>\n

It is time for us to get our national priorities straight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As chairman of the\u00a0Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, I recently held a hearing about the\u00a0dental\u00a0care\u00a0crisis in the United States. Ahead of that hearing, I asked Americans\u00a0from\u00a0across the country to share their experiences with\u00a0dental\u00a0care\u00a0in our country. The responses poured in\u00a0from\u00a0people who told us: \u2018I am in constant pain,\u2019 \u2018I can\u2019t afford\u00a0dental\u00a0care,\u2019 \u2018I can\u2019t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":19438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}