|
January 30, 2002
The U.S. can hardly flash a toothy grin since earning an uninspiring
C on a national report card released this week by the advocacy group
Oral Health America. The nation received its lowest grades in areas
concerning prevention and access to care, showing that basic oral
health is still not a high enough priority for policymakers. Hawaii,
Connecticut, Iowa and Utah scored the highest grade of a B-, with
Hawaii leading the nation by scoring the highest cumulative average of
any state.
Health Director Bruce Anderson said, "Hawaii’s relatively good
grade is a testament to the hard work of public and private sectors
working together to improve oral health in our community. Despite this
good showing, we still have strides to make towards assuring that
Hawaii remains a leader in oral health. We can make further progress by
increasing the utilization of proven, cost-effective prevention
measures and by working to ensure that more people receive dental care
on a regular basis."
In the national report, Hawaii placed well in most categories in
contrast with other states and the District of Columbia. Hawaii ranked
first in Overall cumulative oral health score, and in Proportion of
elderly covered by dental insurance (58.7 percent). Hawaii ranked third
in Dentist to population ratio, with a dentist density of 1 for every
1,287 residents. The state also ranked sixth in Access to care for
Medicaid eligible children (33.3 percent) and fifth in Dental care
utilization in the past year (74.7 percent). Hawaii ranked lowest in
the nation in the Use of smokeless tobacco (3.8 percent) and in the
Proportion of adults who have lost all their teeth (15.9 percent).
The National Oral Health Report Card also highlighted Hawaii among
only ten states, where less than 50 percent of residents benefit from
receiving optimally fluoridated drinking water. Currently, only 13
percent of Hawaii residents have access to fluoridated drinking
water.
According to Dr. Anderson, "While Hawaii did well, the National
Report Card did not consider rates of dental disease among children.
Hawaii continues to have a very high rate of tooth decay, which is
costly for families and our taxpayers, who support programs like
Medicaid which pay for dental care for about 10 percent of Hawaii
residents. Given our high rates of tooth decay, we're fortunate to also
have a large dentist population in Hawaii. However, we'd rather prevent
tooth decay than continue to focus on treating the disease. Bringing
fluoridation to Hawaii would significantly lower the need and expense
of dental treatment for the whole community."
Oral Health America is the nation’s premier, fully independent
organization dedicated to improving oral health. The report card was
funded in part by a generous grant from The Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation. Full report card results are available by visiting www.oralhealthamerica.org.
# # #
|
