Former Surgeon General Revisits Oral Health
In 2000, then-Surgeon-General, Dr. David Satcher, put out the first official report on Oral Health and underserved communities. This week, Morehouse School of Medicine sponsored a forum revisiting the issue, focusing on new ways of expanding access to oral healthcare.
Dr. David Satcher was keynote speaker at this week’s forum on Oral Health Care in the U.S and Georgia.Oral health, he says, is not just the health of teeth and gums, but the health of the mouth, which he says is like a mirror of disease of the body.
“It’s about the cranial facial health, about eating, chewing, speaking, smiling, so it’s about social. When people don’t have their oral health they suffer in all those areas. Especially children.”
Poor oral health can lead to serious illness and expensive emergency room visits. And Georgia has a critical access problem, especially low income and minority populations. According to the 2008 Georgia Population Survey, one in four Georgians did not receive dental care in the last year, mainly due to cost. Four out of 10 people don’t have dental insurance and even if they do, it often doesn’t cover many procedures.
The new health care law, says the former surgeon general, could give more people access but there’s another issue. “We have the affordable care act, and that, properly initiated, will add over 5-million people to the Medicaid roles for oral health, however the question is who’s going to provide the care since we don’t have enough dentist.?”
According to federal estimates, Georgia would need more than 200 additional dentists to serve state residents. So this week’s forum looked expanding the provider pool by adding mid –level professionals, such as Dental Therapists, who could perform minor procedures like cleanings and fillings, expanding the reach of dental teams. Minnesota and Alaska have already implemented such programs and other states are exploring options.
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