Oral health care is a gateway to total health and wellbeing. Lower income and historically marginalized communities lack adequate access to oral health services. The lack of quality oral health care impacts every facet of life — from the confidence to smile to the ability to attend school and obtain a job.
Dental disease is the leading epidemic among low income families. Minority and low income children are less likely to see a dentist than their counterparts, and twice as likely to have tooth decay at a young age, yet more than 25 percent of children living in poverty have not visited a dentist in the past year. Over 80 percent of the children living at or below the FPL are at risk to suffer from preventable dental diseases, and only 22 percent of eligible New Jersey children receive preventive dental care.
Research links periodontal disease (gum disease) to diabetes, heart disease, respiratory infections, and dementia caused by bacteria from oral infections that can travel in the bloodstream. Maternal periodontal disease is linked to preterm birth and low birthweight. High levels of cariogenic bacteria in pregnant mothers can increase the risk of dental caries in infants or young children.
KinderSmile Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide underserved children and families with access to comprehensive dental care and educate underserved children and their families on the importance of dental hygiene. Over the past 16 years, KinderSmile Foundation has provided more than $10 million of in-kind dental services, and impacted over 40,000 underserved patients in New Jersey and abroad.
The State of NJ has taken some strides to address oral health disparities, such as appointing a statewide Dental Director, Dr. Darwin Hayes, within the Department of Health; Creation of the State’s first Oral Health Plan; Expansion of Medicaid to cover all children, regardless of immigration status; Inclusion of dentists in the State of NJ Primary Care Practitioner Loan Redemption Program for providing care in Health Professional Shortage Areas. But there is still a large gap that needs to be addressed.
KinderSmile Foundation has compiled a Roadmap to Improving Access to Oral Health Care in the State of New Jersey. This Roadmap was introduced to the office of Governor Murphy, as well as to members of the Black and Latino Caucuses, in order to garner support and entice members to become champions for oral health in the state.
Medicaid coverage is intended to place members in the same position of having access to care as the rest of the population. In New Jersey, there are not enough Medicaid providers to be able to achieve that goal. The proposed solutions include working with the Department of Human Services to ensure that they address the following issues:
• Regulating MCO reimbursement rates to the approved NJ Medicaid rates, in order to increase the number of providers who accept this form of insurance;
• Implementing a single payer Medicaid system;
• Requiring MCO directories to be updated regularly;
• Regulating providers treating patients insured by Medicaid/NJ FamilyCare to complete quadrant dentistry whenever possible, which would be in the best interest of the families; Paying a fee to Medicaid providers who are not subject to the additional federally-funded per-encounter fees, to incentivize additional dental providers to accept Medicaid patients; Mandate a state policy that all children ages 2 to 12 should be seen by a dentist prior to starting school, or fund facilities to partner with schools to provide these services;
• Adding a policy mandating FQHCs and other community organizations to accept children from the age of one and linking them to a permanent Dental Home;
• Developing the dental workforce in Medically Underserved Areas and Health Provider Shortage Areas;
• Streamlining the credentialing process for Medicaid and MCOs; Providing easier access to Loan Redemption Programs for dentists and dental hygienists to incentivize providers to join community dentistry;
• Creating an incentive program to attract and retain Black and Brown dental providers, dental hygienists, and dental assistants to serve the communities for more culturally congruent care; Initiating a state-level Perinatal Health and Wellness Program to provide oral health education and dental care to pregnant and recently postpartum uninsured mothers, contributing to medical-dental integration;
• Regulating water fluoridation system in the entire State of New Jersey.
KinderSmile Foundation will continue to be a vocal advocate of the need to improve access to care and reduce systemic racism and generational oral health issues by opening the “gateway” to overall health and wellbeing.
For more information about KinderSmile Foundation, visit www.kindersmile.org.
