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A first-of-its-kind analysis from CHI and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment finds that expanding access to dental care for adults could help improve their children's oral health.
Registered dental hygienist Crystal Mecham made Colorado dental history on April 12 at Bea Underwood Elementary in Parachute.
On that Wednesday, she treated a third-grader’s decaying tooth with an Interim Therapeutic Restoration (ITR) filling.
Crystal Mecham
One of the most puzzling results of the 2015 Colorado Health Access Survey has to do with the relationship between dental insurance and dental visits.
New research by the Colorado Health Institute (CHI), “Filling the Dental Gap: Can Colorado Meet the Growing Need?”, finds a wide gap between the demand for oral health care by Medicaid enrollees and the supply of oral health providers in the state.
Colorado is among the nation’s leaders when it comes offering dental insurance to each of the state’s 1.1 million Medicaid clients.
About two of three Coloradans saw a dentist or hygienist in the past year. And in some parts of the state, like the San Luis Valley and southeast Colorado, only about half the residents had a dental visit in the past year.
Findings from this Colorado Health Institute brief suggest that dental insurance can address cost barriers to accessing dental care for Colorado’s children and families. And while most Colorado children have good oral health, low income children are more likely to have fair or poor teeth, the two lowest levels
Health policy changes mean that more than 130,000 Coloradans enrolled in Medicaid will gain dental insurance next year – some for the first time. This is good news on the oral health front. But is Colorado ready to meet these additional dental demands?
A new 2011 Colorado Health Access Survey report, A Growing Problem: Oral Health Coverage, Access and Usage in Colorado, says that getting oral health care is harder for more Coloradans now than in 2008-2009.
Recognizing the social, economic and health impacts resulting in preventable oral disease, the Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation board of directors contracted with the CHI to conduct an analysis of the costs and outcomes associated with oral health interventions.