Health Services Financing and Utilization

TIMING OF DENTAL CARE

In a 2000 report on oral health, the Surgeon General identified dental caries (tooth decay) as the single most common chronic disease among children in the United States, a condition even more common among children living in families with low incomes. This is a preventable health problem that can significantly affect children’s health, ability to concentrate in school, and quality of life.

To promote good oral hygiene, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children receive an oral health risk assessment by 6 months of age and a dental referral by 3 years; earlier referrals are appropriate for children found to be at risk. In Federal Fiscal Year 2002, only 23 percent of children eligible for services under the Medicaid Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) program received a preventive dental service.

In 2003, 70.8 percent of children had seen a dentist in the past year. Frequency of dental visits among children varies by family income and race and ethnicity. Non-Hispanic White children between the ages of 1 and 18 years were most likely to have visited a dentist or other dental specialist within the past year (75.6 percent), while Hispanic children were least likely (61.3 percent). Children with family incomes at or above 200 percent of the poverty level were almost 30 percent more likely to have seen a dentist in the past year than children living with family incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level.

> Line Chart: Children Receiving an EPSDT Preventive Dental Service: 1990-2002

> Bar Chart: Children Receiving Dental Care in the Past 12 Months, by Family Income: 2003