Not in vain

After tragedy, Md. widens access to dental care - but we must do more

The state has also set aside additional funds in a grant program for Maryland's 23 counties and Baltimore to help local governments and nonprofits improve access to dental care for underserved populations. This money can be used to provide new dental services and providers through things such as building or renovating dental clinics, offering salary support for new dentists and dental hygienists, and developing private and public partnerships - for example, contracting with private dentists. It can also be used to provide transportation to dental offices and conduct community outreach programs to educate families on the importance of dental care.

However, much remains to be done. Maryland still does not provide dental services through Medicaid for adults. This neglect is evidenced in the fact that nearly 50 percent of residents living in households making less than $25,000 a year have not had their teeth cleaned in more than a year. Education programs are required to teach underserved populations about oral health and the prevention of oral disease. The state cannot increase services and automatically expect these populations to understand the value of dental health or how to follow through on oral health care between dentist visits.

Dental screening should be incorporated into the vision and hearing screenings done for public school children, or schools should require dental exams before kids are allowed to start classes. Additional training should be available to dental and medical providers to conduct oral health risk assessments and educate patients and parents on oral health. And even these are just the beginnings of a process that will bring oral care in Maryland to a respectable level.

Maryland has taken some very important steps to ensure all residents have access to dental care, but as the state wrestles over the next few years with larger health care issues, oral care must remain part of the forefront so that Deamonte Driver will not have died in vain. Ideally, we won't be remembered as the state that allowed a boy to die of a toothache, but as the state that did everything it could to ensure that other children avoided his fate.

Dr. Garner Morgan is president of the Maryland State Dental Association and a practicing dentist in Mechanicsville. His e-mail is [e-mail].