Good news can be a scarce commodity, so I tip my hat to Guy Boulton for his article in Tuesday’s Journal Sentinel, which reported that Wisconsin is one of the national leaders in providing dental sealants for kids:
Wisconsin is among the five states in the country with the most extensive programs to place dental sealants – plastic coatings applied to the chewing surface of molars to prevent tooth decay – in children, according to a report from the Pew Center on the States.
Much of the credit goes to the state’s Seal-a-Smile program, which was expanded over the past three years with an infusion of $1.3 million – including $825,000 from a federal grant and $480,000 donated over two years by Delta Dental.
Unfortunately, dental sealants are one of the few bright spots in Wisconsin’s public sector efforts to improve oral health. As the Journal Sentinel article explains, “access to dental care has been a longstanding problem for adults and children insured through BadgerCare Plus and other Medicaid programs.” Read more here.
Advocates, providers and policymakers need to work together to finds ways to use the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to help improve access to dental care. See, for example, this American Dental Association synopsis of potential effects of the ACA on oral health care.
Jon Peacock
