Madisonville

Dental Facts

Nov 18, 2000

80% of tooth decay in permanent teeth is now found in only 25% of school age children.

38% of 8 year old Cincinnati children from low-income families have untreated dental infections.

Less than one child in every 5 Medicaid-enrolled children received any preventive dental services.

Our youngest and poorest children (ages 2-5 and living below poverty level) have almost 5 times as much tooth decay as children of upper income families.

For poor children (ages 2-5) with tooth decay, almost 80% of it remains untreated.

Cincinnati school nurses report that by the end of the school year, 41% of the children who complained of dental pain had not received treatment.

African American men have a much poorer 5 year survival rate for mouth and throat cancer than whites (34% vs 56%)

45% of adults have no form of dental insurance.

Only 15% of the elderly have any dental insurance.

The poor elderly and African American elderly are only one half as likely to receive dental treatment as the national average for all elderly persons, yet they are more likely to need treatment.

ACCESS:

One of the most common reasons for visits to the emergency room at University Hospital is dental pain.

Children's Hospital is unable to accept new dental patients.

The waiting lists for a new patient dental appointment at the Cincinnati Health Department is more than one year.

Over a recent 18 month period, approximately 3000 people were added to the waiting lists for care at the Cincinnati Health Department clinics.

PROBLEMS IN CINCINNATI:

1. 40% of 8 year olds have untreated dental infections.

2. 78% of those have not received any care one year after a letter was sent home to notify the parents.

3. There were 4000 patient visits to the Emergency Room at University Hospital for dental emergencies (primarily tooth aches).

4. 8600 patients were treated for dental emergencies at the Cincinnati Health Department dental clinics.

5. The pediatric dental program at Children's Hospital is at capacity and cannot accept new patients.

6. The dental clinics at the Cincinnati Health Department have waiting times for new patient visits of approximately a year and a half.

7. Physicians at the Braxton Cann Health Center in Madisonville have petitioned the Health Department Administration to add dental services at the clinic because lack of dental care is seriously compromising the overall health and well being of their medical patients.

8. The Madisonville Com,munity Council has made a request for dental services in their neighborhood among their requests to City Council for the 2001-2002 budget.

9. Very few dentists accept Medicaid. Most dentit\sts are not located in the neighborhoods with a high number of low income families.

10. The highest paid and most experienced of the Cincinnati Health Department dentists are making only 57% of their average dental colleagues in the Cincinnati area. This makes it very difficult to attract or retain experienced dentists.

11. There is already a shortage of dentists in the Cincinnati Health Department and 3 of the 9 current dentists have inquired about reducing their hours or early retirement.

12. 2 more dentists will be needed to staff the new Madisonville clinic, if approved.

13. The bottom line is that more money needs to be budgeted for dental services in the Cincinnati Health Department.