The Children's Agenda for California

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Goal 8:
Decreasing the number of children with dental caries to achieve better health outcomes and improve school attendance and student achievement.

Specific policy components to consider:

Capitalizing fully on federal funding opportunities available to California for children’s oral health.
California should pursue all available federal funding opportunities to strengthen existing and create new programs to improve the oral health of California’s children. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides California with significant federal grant opportunities focused on addressing dental disease prevention, expanding the dental workforce, investing in state infrastructure and improving dental data collection.

Aligning Medi-Cal dentist reimbursement rates more closely with private dental coverage to improve children’s access to pediatric dental care.
There is a shortage in the supply of dental providers willing to accept child Medi-Cal patients. Medi-Cal reimbursement rates are very low – about one-third to one-half of dentists’ usual fees – leading many providers to reject new Medi-Cal patients. To improve children’s access to oral health services, California should align Medi-Cal reimbursements with those negotiated by private dental insurers for the top five childhood dental procedures.

Increasing the percentage of pediatricians who educate parents about oral health during well-baby visits.
Of all the barriers to children accessing oral health check-ups the greatest may well be a lack of education. If pediatricians made a concerted effort to explain the importance of routine pediatric dental care to parents, there likely would be much greater utilization of cost-effective, preventive childhood dental services.

Expanding the use of tele-dentistry to reach underserved child populations, especially those in rural areas.
Tele-health technologies can help children in remote and other underserved areas receive needed dental screenings, preventive care, treatment and referrals. Several pilot programs already are underway in California. Community-based dental hygienists and assistants are collaborating with off-site dentists via tele-dentistry systems to serve children in schools, Head Start centers and other convenient locations. These programs should be optimized and expanded.

Adding a new member to the oral health care workforce so dentists’ time can be used more efficiently and more children can access needed services.
Expanding the dental workforce to help meet the oral health care needs of underserved children is a vital component of solving the oral health epidemic in California. The introduction of a new oral health care team member in other states, such as Alaska and Minnesota, has increased children’s access to high-quality, cost-effective services.

Reinstating Medi-Cal’s dental benefits for adults.
The 2009-10 state budget’s elimination of most adult Denti-Cal benefits has severely impacted children’s access to oral health services. Many care providers and clinics relied on Denti-Cal income from both adults and children to make ends meet. Furthermore, children whose parents visit the dentist are 13 times more likely to access dental services themselves.