At a meeting about dental health in the US, the head of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee told people about it. During the hearing, a lot of responses showed that Americans are having a hard time getting dental care. There is a dental problem in the US.
“I can’t afford dental care” and “My insurance won’t cover the dental procedures I need” were two answers that were given.
Someone from Georgia said she has had temporary caps on her teeth for fifteen years because she can’t afford to get real ones. Someone in Wisconsin said that getting caps put on their cracked teeth costs $1,000 per tooth and that their insurance won’t pay for it.
About 78 million kids and 70 million adults in the U.S. don’t have dental insurance. Some people who do have dental insurance say that it doesn’t cover enough of their needs.
One out of every five older Americans has lost all of their original teeth. Seventy percent of older Americans have some kind of gum disease. By the time they are in kindergarten, 40% of kids have cavities because their parents couldn’t find or afford dental care.
The dental problem in the US affects between a few thousand and several million people. To get the services they need, many Americans have had to leave the United States and go to places like Mexico or Costa Rica.
People who go to other places may still need help with things, though. The job may be less expensive, but it has to be perfect or the person will be in a lot of pain and have other problems.
To help fix the lack of dentists in the US, new dentistry laws would make it easier for more dentists to work in the US. Another thing that the law will do is make sure that dentists will treat people with low incomes and Medicaid recipients. Also, the bill would help more Americans get good dental insurance, which could help a lot of people find dentists who will cover the treatments they need.
