The Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) commends the ABC television program "World News With Diane Sawyer" for its April 24 segment on the need to improve the oral health of underprivileged children on Medicaid.
The program gave national attention to the lack of Medicaid funding available to treat children's oral health, the AGD said in a press release. The AGD has urged the U.S. Congress and state programs to increase the Medicaid money allotted for oral healthcare.
"The need for improvement in the oral health of the underprivileged is a nationwide epidemic," said AGD President Howard Gamble, DMD, FAGD. "Dedicated dentists around the country are improving the oral health of Americans through volunteer outreach programs, but that is not enough. Reimbursement rates to dentists need to increase to cover the full cost of the services being provided to each patient."
In addition to a proposed increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates, a 2008 position paper by the AGD, "White Paper on Increasing Access to and Utilization of Oral Health Care Services," calls for greater efforts to improve oral health literacy and education, the expansion of water fluoridation, and loan forgiveness programs for dentists working in underserved areas.
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