Report: 12 million U.S. kids face barriers to dental care

A new report released today by researchers from the University of Michigan Health System reveals that nearly 12 million children in the U.S. experience serious barriers to getting much needed dental care due to lack of insurance coverage, cost of care, and difficulty finding providers who accept their insurance.

"In this poll, we wanted to understand the patterns of dental care for children," said Matthew Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., director of the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, in a press release. "We asked parents how they access dental health services: whether they had problems accessing services, how often they took their children to the dentist, and whether they experienced barriers to receiving that care."

The poll found that 57% of parents say their children began going to the dentist by age 3 and that 82% receive regular dental care, defined by going to the dentist at least once per year.

"When we looked at factors associated with not getting regular dental care, one factor that leapt out at us was being uninsured for dental care," Dr. Davis said. "We found that while, overall, 18% of all kids did not get regular dental care, for children without coverage over 40% did not get regular dental care."

The report also shows that cost is a concern for parents seeking dental healthcare for their children. For uninsured children, when out-of-pocket costs were more than $25, only 78% received regular dental care, compared to 92% of children receiving care when visits cost $25 or less.

In addition, for 14% of parents whose children have public health insurance, parents reported difficulty finding a dentist who accepts their insurance, compared to only 8% for privately insured children.

The poll used data from a national online survey conducted in August 2008 in collaboration with Knowledge Networks. The survey was administered to a random sample of 2,245 adults, ages 18 and older, who are a part of Knowledge Network's online KnowledgePanel. For this analysis, a subset of parents with children age 3-17 years was used (n = 1,608). The sample was subsequently weighted to reflect U.S. population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. The margin of sampling error is ± 2% to 7%, depending on the question.

Other findings from the survey include:

• 16% of children have no dental insurance coverage.
• Only 58% of children with no dental insurance receive dental care.
• Children with no dental health coverage are three to four times more likely to have no regular dental care when compared with children with private or public dental health insurance.
• 12% of parents have not obtained the dental care they thought their children needed. Of those children, 9% have private insurance, 13% have public insurance, and 22% are children without insurance.
• Nearly one-quarter of parents report "costs too much" as a big problem in getting dental care for their children.
• 13% of parents report their "child doesn't like going to the dentist" is a big problem in getting dental care for their children.

"The good news is that over 80% of children are getting regular dental care and that only 16% of children have no dental coverage. These numbers are better than expected based on other national numbers from past years. The bad news in terms of children's oral health is that we still have big gaps when it comes to kids without dental insurance getting the care they need," Dr. Davis said.