Patients enrolled on California’s Denti-Cal programs continue to struggle to find suitable dental care, and California now faces an epidemic of dental disease. A risk is growing that accessibility and cost of care will see thousands of Denti-Cal recipients suffer tooth pain and potential tooth loss. The CEO and dental director of the nonprofit Gary and Mary West Senior Dental Center, Dr. Karen Becerra, has bemoaned the regularity with which she sees the dental system fail low income individuals, especially those with special care needs. In particular, she raises concerns over accessibility and affordability, which saw only 44 percent of children enrolled on the program saw a dentist in 207. In addition, only 26 percent of eligible adults with Denti-Cal coverage saw a dentist in 2014. In cases where the patient may have a number of additional health care concerns, delivering the care itself can become a challenge in itself. Often, it is low income seniors who suffer most from this confluence of issues. Accessibility has consistently been an issue, with 13 of the state’s 58 counties possessing only one Denti-Cal participating dentist, with 7 having none. The primary issue behind the lack of practitioners is not low reimbursement rates, but rather the complication and hassle of providing the care. There is pending legislation that would boost Denti-Cal access for patients with special needs, but this is only a start. This legislation is of the utmost importance, but Dr. Becerra says that it will require significant public support and calls for popular pressure to ensure the legislation will be passed.
Patients enrolled on California’s Denti-Cal programs continue to struggle to find suitable dental care, and California now faces an epidemic of dental disease. A risk is growing that accessibility and cost of care will see thousands of Denti-Cal recipients suffer tooth pain and potential tooth loss. The CEO and dental director of the nonprofit Gary and Mary West Senior Dental Center, Dr. Karen Becerra, has bemoaned the regularity with which she sees the dental system fail low income individuals, especially those with special care needs. In particular, she raises concerns over accessibility and affordability, which saw only 44 percent of children enrolled on the program saw a dentist in 2013. In addition, only 26 percent of eligible adults with Denti-Cal coverage saw a dentist in 2014. In cases where the patient may have a number of additional health care concerns, delivering the care itself can become a challenge in itself. Often, it is low income seniors who suffer most from this confluence of issues. Accessibility has consistently been an issue, with 7 of the state’s 58 counties possessing only one Denti-Cal participating dentist, with 13 having none. The primary issue behind the lack of practitioners is not low reimbursement rates, but rather the complication and hassle of providing the care. There is pending legislation that would boost Denti-Cal access for patients with special needs, but this is only a start. This legislation is of the utmost importance, but Dr. Becerra says that it will require significant public support and calls for popular pressure to ensure the legislation will be passed.