FORMER SURGEON GENERAL DAVID SATCHER SAYS ORAL HEALTH EPIDEMIC PERSISTS; CALLS FOR PURSUING OPTIONS TO EXPAND ACCESS – INCLUDING MIDLEVEL PROVIDERS, DENTAL THERAPISTS
Disparities in Oral Health Are Profound, Especially Among Poor Children and Children of Color; Oral Health Provisions Under ACA Critical to Expanding Care to Children
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Former Surgeon General David Satcher
addresses the nation’s oral health. |
According to Satcher, states must pursue all avenues to expand access to dental care, including exploring the creation of new dental providers, and building a cadre of ethnically-diverse, culturally-competent dental practitioners, as well as expanding the reach of the dental team with other health care professionals.
Satcher advocated the launching of workforce pilot programs to determine how best to expand access to dental care. “I think we need more dentists and I think we need more professionals who are not dentists but who can contribute to oral health care services,” said Satcher. “The real key is whether or not systems are going to ensure that everyone is allowed to practice to the level of their potential.”
More than a dozen states are exploring creating new midlevel dental providers, also known as dental therapists, to expand access to preventive and routine dental care. Dental therapists currently practice in Alaska and Minnesota. Connecticut and Oregon are planning pilot projects and numerous other states have put forward legislation to allow dental therapists. In Alaska, dental therapists have been able to provide care to 35,000 Alaska Natives who couldn’t access it before.
“Access to oral health is not what it should be in this country,” said Dr. Louis Sullivan, president of the Sullivan Alliance, and former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Services. “With the Affordable Care Act, millions more will have access to oral health care. We, as health professionals, must lead the effort so that we are prepared to meet the need. We need now to develop strategies to provide those services.”
Poor oral health can lead to serious health consequences later in life, including diabetes and heart problems. Oral health is critical to overall health. Satcher emphasized that oral health can dramatically affect how we speak, eat, or smile, and more health professionals should be trained in providing elements of oral health care. He also stressed that children, minorities and the poor are disproportionately affected by the oral health care crisis:
- 37 percent of African American children and 41 percent of Hispanic children have untreated tooth decay, compared with 25 percent of white children
- American Indians and Alaska Natives have the highest rate of tooth decay of any population: five times the national average for children ages 2 to 4.
- Seventy-two percent of American Indian and Alaska Native children ages 6 to 8 have untreated cavities – more than twice the rate of the general population.
- More than a third of all poor youngsters ages 2 to 9 have untreated cavities, compared with 17 percent of children who are not poor.
Satcher, who was joined by Dr. Sullivan, spoke at a day-long forum: “Unmet Oral Health Needs, Underserved Populations, and New Workforce Models: An Urgent Dialogue.” The meeting was held to underscore the oral health disparities that persist and to explore solutions.
About Morehouse School of Medicine
Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), located in Atlanta, Georgia, was founded in 1975 as a two-year Medical Education Program at Morehouse College with clinical training affiliations with several established medical schools for awarding the M.D. degree. In 1981, MSM became an independently chartered institution and the first medical school established at a Historically Black College and University in the 20th century. MSM is among the nation’s leading educators of primary care physicians and was recently recognized as the top institution among U.S. medical schools for our social mission.
About the Sullivan Alliance
Under the leadership of Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Sullivan Alliance to Transform America’s Health Professions was organized in January 2005, to act on the reports and recommendations of the Sullivan Commission (Missing Persons: Minorities in the Health Professions), and the Institute of Medicine Committee on Institutional and Policy-Level Strategies for Increasing the Diversity of the U.S. Healthcare Workforce (In the Nation’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce). The Alliance’s goal is to provide the focused leadership, deep commitment, and sustainable efforts that will result in the addition to our nation’s workforce of more well-trained health professionals from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds able to provide quality health care and break-through research in the decades ahead.
