Though about 60 million retired and disabled Americans depend upon Medicare for their health care coverage, the federal program has never included routine dental benefits.
A sizeable percentage of likely voters believe that should change, according to the results of a new poll. Continue reading
Photo: John Spade via Flickr
Congress returns from its summer recess with a full agenda. It’s probably not high on its to-do list, but many advocates of older Americans hope it will address several pieces of legislation introduced this year that could help many seniors better afford and access dental care, eyeglasses and hearing aids.
These are items that traditional Medicare doesn’t pay for but would make a world of difference in the health and well-being of older adults. Continue reading
More Americans are keeping their natural teeth throughout their lifetimes, federal research tells us.
Overall, the rate of U.S. adults who have experienced complete tooth loss fell from 9.3% in 2000 to 7% in 2017, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. The trend holds true across all age groups, researchers found. Continue reading
Photo: Jonathan Cohen via Flickr
Children living in counties with fluoridated water have significantly less tooth decay than those living in counties that lack water fluoridation programs, according to a newly published large-scale study.
Reduced decay rates were most pronounced in the primary teeth of children living in fluoridated counties. Yet community water fluoridation (CWF) also was credited with conferring a meaningful level of protection to the permanent teeth of children and adolescents. Continue reading
Eleanor Fleming
The good news: In recent years, tooth decay rates have significantly decreased for American children.
Overall, 43.1 percent of American children between the ages of 2 and 19 experienced decay in primary and permanent teeth in 2015-16, down from 50 percent reported in 2011-12. Continue reading
Oral health has been recognized as an integral part of overall health yet our fragmented health care system does not reflect this reality.
An interdisciplinary panel of experts will tackle the dilemma of the dental-medical divide at Health Journalism 2018 on Friday, April 13.
The panel, “Closing the gap between oral and overall health: What will it take?” is slated for the Association of Health Care Journalists annual conference, being held this year April 12-15 in Phoenix. Continue reading