Dental association wants funding for tablet system in infrastructure bill

Dental association wants funding for tablet system in infrastructure bill 

                The American Dental Association has asked the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to include funding for the expansion of water fluoridation in small communities across the USA using the new fluoride tablet feeder system that can fluoridate up to one million gallons per day. 

                “We respectfully urge you to include a one-time supplement infusion of funds to help states and localities revitalize their water fluoridation systems. Doing so will reduce the need for costly dental care, particularly in areas where the cost of community water fluoridation has traditionally been prohibitive,” wrote ADA President Daniel J. Klemmedson and Executive Director Kathleen T. O’Loughlin. 

                The tablet system was developed by KC Industries in Florida and will be produced and sold by DuBois Chemicals. Neither company responded to a reporter’s query asking for the complete chemical composition of the tablets. 

                The tablet system has received NSF Standard 61 approval, which means that no toxic chemicals are

introduced into the product during its manufacture. It does not mean the product is effective, nor does it mean that the product doesn’t generate any hazard once it is introduced into the water supply. 

Dental association struggles to promote “health equity” as millions more 

sign on to Medicaid program during COVID pandemic 

                Facing a huge increase in poverty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and a Medicare for All bill that would include dental care for all citizens, thereby reducing the power of the dental guild, the American Dental Association has published a statement professing its commitment to health equity while ignoring its central role in perpetuating inequity – the fact that the vast majority of dentists in the USA refuse to accept Medicaid insurance in their offices. 

                According to the statement published in ADA News May 6, “Nearly 80 million adults and children were enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program as of November 2020, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid. That number includes more than 6 million who signed up during the pandemic.” 

                However, qualifying for poor peoples’ insurance will not solve many patients’ dental problems, as most dentists won’t accept Medicaid in their offices. In Massachusetts 75 percent of dentists won’t accept the insurance while a report from the Georgia Institute of Technology found less than 10 percent of dentists in that state took Medicaid as payment in their office, leaving 100,000s of impoverished youth who did not live within 30 miles or a 30-minute drive of the precious few dentists who accepted Medicaid. 

                Many dentists are registered with Medicaid, so they can treat patients in hospital emergency departments, where they can receive higher fees. This strain on Medicaid, the needless expense of hospital care for dental emergencies that could have been prevented by routine office treatment, has led to the movement for dental therapists, a category of dental professional below that of dentist, who can perform fillings and extractions.  

                The establishment of this dental therapist license has been resisted by the dental guild. 

                The ADA statement makes only a passing reference to community water fluoridation. 

Surveyed women don’t see fluoridated water preventing cavities 

                Only four of 191 pregnant women and new mothers surveyed in a study from Marshfield, Wisconsin responded to the question “What is the best way to prevent tooth decay?” with the answer “Using fluoridated water,” according to a report in the Journal of Primary Care and Community Health.

                The authors also reported that 30 percent of the women did not know the purpose of fluoride.

                “Study results suggested potential gaps in knowledge and behaviors related to early childhood caries prevention,” noted the authors, who included Alice M. Horowitz, a long-time fluoridation advocate.

                Only one-quarter of the women surveyed reported seeing a dentist during their pregnancy. A third “elected not to respond” to the question. The investigators did not ask the subjects if they are dependent on Medicaid insurance for dental care. Three-quarters or more of dentists by state do not accept Medicaid insurance in their offices in the USA.

Shimpi, N., Glurich, I., Maybury, C., Wang, M.Q., Hashimoto, K., Acharya, A. and Horowitz, A.M. 2021. Knowledge, attitudes, behaviors of women related to pregnancy, and early childhood caries prevention: A cross-sectional pilot study. Journal of Primary Care & Community Health 12: 1-6.