Benjamin Franklin once famously stated, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” In the late evening hours of February 26, the House of Representatives heeded those famous words and—with bipartisan support—passed the Action for Dental Health Act of 2017 (HR 2422). The act has been endorsed by the American Dental Association and National Dental Association in hopes of decreasing dental expenditures by preventing them at their infancy.
As its core, the act aims to improve oral health for underserved populations, with a focus on children, seniors, and individuals in rural or urban communities. It would reauthorize the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in conjunction with the Health Resources and Services Administration to issue grants and funds totaling $32 million each year for the next five years. Grants would be for oral health education, dental disease prevention, and increased access to care. The act creates guidelines for who would be eligible to receive funds. They include academic institutions, local dental societies, state dental associations, as well as state and local health and/or dental departments.
The data show that 181 million people didn’t visit the dentist last year and 50% of those people over 30 have an undiagnosed dental condition. 25% of children under five years old have a cavity. It is also a fact the emergency room visits for dental conditions cost more and are essentially useless in treating the condition compared to a visit with a dentist. The act also points out that dentists are extremely altruistic in nature and donate close to $2.6 billion in services annually. The act has specific language in it that acknowledges dental professionals' good will and attempts to leverage the donated dental services with grant money, ultimately creating a more profound impact on targeted communities.
As someone who has worked closely with a large, free dental clinic, I know the bare-bones costs are close to $500,000 to treat 2000-plus patients over two days. HR 2422 will focus on getting money to efforts like these, with its ultimate goal to improve oral health in underserved populations across the United States.
In the grand scheme of things, $32 million dollars a year is literally nothing in the federal government's budget. With an estimated budget of $3.76 trillion dollars, this bill would compromise 0.000851% of that budget. As a dentist, I hope this bill passes and many more like it pass so the oral health care in underserved communities improves drastically. Additionally, there should be additional funding so oral health care is viewed and treated as an essential component for good overall health.
The next hurdle for the bill is a vote in the Senate and then onto the president’s desk for his signature, making it law.
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Editor's note: This article was first published in the Apex360 e-newsletter. Apex360 is a DentistryIQ partner publication for dental practitioners and members of the dental industry. Its goal is to provide timely dental information and present it in meaningful context, empowering those in the dental space to make better business decisions.
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