The U.S. can hardly flash a toothy grin since earning an uninspiring C on a national report card released today by the advocacy group Oral Health America. The nation received its lowest grades in areas concerning prevention and access to care, showing that basic oral health is still not a priority for policymakers.
"Our report card shows the nation needs to pay more attention to oral health," said Robert Klaus, Oral Health America President. "We can make great strides in improving oral health by implementing tested preventive measures and by ensuring more people see an oral health professional on a regular basis."
States received some of their lowest grades in the areas of prevention and access to care. Many states still fail to provide fluoridated public drinking water for at least half of their residents. Ten states -- California, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming -- all received Fs for failing to provide this cost-effective measure. California recently began increasing the number of counties with fluoridated water, but less than one-third of the residents of the largest state receive fluoridated water.
The report card showed large gaps in access to dental care. Income seemed to have a significant effect on services received. When graded on visits to the dentist for people with annual incomes less than $15,000, nine states received Cs, 31 states scored Ds, and 11 states failed. As a result, most states have one-third or more people who failed to see a dentist at least once last year. Access to insurance is noted as an obvious problem for the elderly with 39 states scoring Fs.
One area of progress has been in awareness. Several states hired dental directors and others increased the position to a full-time one. This helped earn the nation a B average in the oral health leadership category. Oral Health America attributed this advance to awareness created by Surgeon General David Satcher's report in 2000. "Oral health is now on the radar screen and the U.S. needs to match this awareness with resources," said Klaus.
Overall, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, and Utah scored the highest grade of a B-. 19 states scored C+s, 19 states and the District of Columbia scored Cs, and eight states scored C-s.
The Surgeon General's report found several areas where the nation is lacking, including:
* More than 108 million U.S. adults and children are without dental insurance.
* Tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease, affecting 50 percent of first graders and 80 percent of 17-year-olds.
* Every year, over 30,000 people develop oral and pharyngeal (throat) cancer.
* Oral/pharyngeal cancer is the 6th most common cancer in U.S. males and the 4th most common cancer in Black men.
* Almost 2.5 million days of work are lost each year due to dental problems.
Oral Health America is the nation's premier, fully independent organization dedicated to improving oral health. The report card was funded in part by a generous grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Full report card results are available by visiting www.oralhealthamerica.org/Report%20Card.htm.
