USA - Bipartisan Agreement On Health Care? On Dental Care, Absolutely

KAI PFAFFENBACH

I’m talking about better access to dental care. Recent poll results and comments by policy advisors on both sides of the political divide show that there is growing bipartisan agreement on ways to improve the oral health of Americans.
While the Affordable Care Act helped increase access to dental care for low-income children enrolled in the Medicaid program, it did very little otherwise to address what continues to be a “silent epidemic” in this country.
“Silent epidemic” is the term former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher used in a seminal report in 2000 to describe a growing but, until then, little understood crisis.
“It (is) abundantly clear,” Satcher wrote, “that there are profound and consequential disparities in the oral health of our citizens. Indeed, what amounts to a “silent epidemic” of dental and oral diseases is affecting some population groups.”
Satcher added.............................