The BDN Belief area operates independently and does not established newsroom guidelines or add to reporting or modifying posts elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com.
Sue Mackey Andrews of Dover-Foxcroft is a volunteer with Aiding Fingers with Coronary heart and the Maine Highlands Doing the job Communities Problem.
Although Mainers consider delight in the several methods in which we provide as a optimistic job design for the relaxation of the country, oral health and fitness is one location the place we have been failing our children.
Maine ranks 3rd to previous in the nation in the percentage of little ones insured by Medicaid who get any preventive dental care. Even among little ones who have commercial dental added benefits, too many go without having care.
There are numerous factors for this lengthy-standing trouble. Maine suffers from a lack of dentists, and in some regions of the condition, it can consider various hours to vacation to a dental office if moms and dads can afford to pay for the support, have the transportation desired, and really can get time off get the job done to get their youngster. This stop by is typically “out of our county” and can eat a total day — this means missed school and skipped do the job.
Tooth discomfort can an remarkable distressing working experience for young children and can disrupt their education and learning and the very simple items in lifestyle — like ingesting. When young children have lousy dentition, cavities or prematurely dropped enamel, their self-esteem struggles. This scenario can sad to say prolong into adulthood and negatively have an affect on a person’s means to get a position owing to very poor dentition.
Dental disease is mostly preventable when little ones have obtain to early prevention and procedure. On the other hand, in our Maine Highlands region, wherever additional than half of our youngsters underneath age 12 are enrolled in MaineCare — the state’s Medicaid application — we have only a single dentist who accepts MaineCare.
Dental condition plagues so quite a few people today in Maine that it seems we have forgotten it is a ailment we know how to reduce and treat. Brushing, flossing and excellent diet habits are absolutely an important element of oral wellbeing care, but earning sure young children can get preventive solutions like fluoride varnish and sealants also has a significant effect. Sadly, for far too lots of family members, securing time off from do the job, discovering a dentist to see their young children, bodily receiving there and becoming in a position to find the money for the service fees are all obstacles that avoid kids from getting this important overall health care.
Just one vital resolution is the Maine Heart for Ailment Regulate and Prevention’s College Oral Well being Program, which provides oral health screenings, fluoride varnish and sealants correct to college students exactly where they previously are: in faculty. Many adults today keep in mind the glory days of this system when kids lined up for the pink plaque-disclosing tablets and fluoride “swish.” Fairly uncomplicated, ideal? And successful, as well.
Unfortunately, cuts over the a long time have eliminated all of the point out oral health employees positions, and the university software at the moment serves only about a 3rd of elementary colleges in the condition.
This calendar year, our Legislature has the possibility to reverse this downward craze. LD 1501, An Act to Defend Oral Health for Small children in Maine, would increase the University Oral Health and fitness Plan so that all colleges can take part. The invoice would also restore just one state oral wellbeing coordinator place at the Maine CDC to make sure the program’s usefulness and details-pushed tactic, as very well as to handle workforce shortages and provide community overall health management on oral wellbeing issues for all ages in Maine.
Discovering approaches to make preventive dental care extra available is great for the economic system as well as superior for our overall health. Each condition typical fund dollar expended on Medicaid dental expert services brings in virtually 2 times as substantially in federal matching cash. The restoration of a condition oral overall health coordinator is imperative to make Maine competitive in applying for obtainable federal oral well being funding that we have been leaving on the desk.
When we sacrifice our children’s oral health and fitness to conserve a couple pennies, we pay back a considerably even worse selling price and we pay out it in excess of and in excess of once again. There are numerous challenges dealing with the Legislature this session, but this is a winnable struggle, and the time to act is now. Oral wellness is health, and our youngsters require this to succeed in lifestyle.
Additional content from the BDN
Source: https://bangordailynews.com/2022/03/31/opinion/belief-contributor/dental-treatment-is-an-necessary-expense-for-maine/