Little Rock — Arkansas mirrors national progress in improving oral health, according to a national report card released today by the advocacy group Oral Health America.  Arkansas received grades in areas from oral health access and prevention to policies and infrastructure, contributing to an overall grade of C- on the report card.  Arkansas has seen improvement from the first grade of D in 2001.  The 2003 national grade is a C. 

The nation’s oral heath affects everything from school attendance to combat readiness, the Chicago based organization notes.   “The armed forces are spending a disproportionate share of medical resources to treat the dental problems of new recruits before they can be deployed,” according to the report card.

Holding the nation back is access to care, receiving a C- on the report card.  In some states, dentist availability was a major concern.  Arkansas suffers from a maldistribution of dental professionals with most dentists and dental hygienists clustered in the major metropolitan areas.  Arkansas has few resources to address the dental workforce problem because it does not have a dental school in the state.

The report card also found that those in the greatest need are having the hardest time finding care, as 18 states received F’s for availability of dentists who provide significant services under Medicaid, contributing to an alarming D for the nation.  Arkansas also received a D. The report notes adults are three times as likely to be without dental insurance as medical insurance.  In almost half of all states Medicaid either provides only for emergency dental care or provides no coverage for adults at all. Arkansas covers adult dental services under Medicaid only for “life threatening” emergencies.

“We will never catch up if we spend our limited resources on toothaches and other emergency care,” said Dr. Lynn Mouden, Director of the Arkansas Department of Health’s Office of Oral Health.  “We must concentrate our efforts on preventing dental problems before they start, through community water fluoridation and dental sealants for children.”

The report found that basic preventative measures fall short of national goals.  Several areas where significant progress can still be made were highlighted, including:

• Adequate fluoridation of public water supplies, the most cost-effective disease prevention strategy, is unavailable to over 100 million Americans.   Only 62 percent of Arkansans currently receive adequate fluoride in their drinking water.

• Dental sealants, a low-cost way to combat tooth decay in children, are only found in 23% of youth under age 8 and in less than 10% of low-income minority children.  While the Arkansas rate for dental sealants is 24%, only 2% of children living at or near the poverty level have dental sealants.

• The nation received a D for policies to reduce the use of spit tobacco, which has been linked to the development of oral diseases including oral and pharyngeal cancer.  Arkansas also received a D on spit tobacco policies.

• Most older Americans, at high risk for oral health problems, have no dental insurance at all.  Thirty-two states received Ds or Fs for having over 70% of their elderly report having no dental insurance.  A recent oral health survey of long term care residents showed that virtually all residents had experienced tooth decay.  Medicare provides no routine dental coverage.

The report did find some bright spots.  States made inroads against oral and pharyngeal cancer, as the nation received a B for reducing mortality rates over the past 26 years associated with the disease.   Also encouraging were the 28 A’s received by states for leadership indicating many of the right steps toward progress are in place.

“The purpose of the report card is to highlight the critical need for awareness of oral health issues in our country,” Klaus said.  “The reality is that most oral health problems are preventable, and solutions to these problems are cost-effective.”

The Arkansas Office of Oral Health conducts initiatives on fluoridation, dental sealants, family violence prevention, spit tobacco prevention and other areas – all aimed at preventing oral diseases – as well as working to improve access to dental care for all Arkansans.  More information on the Office of Oral Health is available online at http://www.healthyarkansas.com/Oral_Health/index.htm.

Oral Health America is the nation’s premier, fully independent, organization dedicated to improving oral health. The National Grading Report 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.

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