Barry Daneman

Earlier this month, U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico introduced a bill, the "Children's Dental Health Improvement Act of 2001," to address some longstanding problems with the financing and delivery of Medicaid dental services to children.

His floor statement made the following points:

• Dental caries is the most common childhood disease — five times more common than asthma, seven times more common than hay fever.

• The Surgeon General's landmark study, Oral Health in America , said the nation faces a "silent epidemic" of oral and dental diseases and concluded that dental care was "the most prevalent unmet health need among American children."

• Children in poverty fare the worst. They have twice the decay of children who are not poor.

• Untreated decay takes its toll. It causes pain, undermines self-esteem, causes withdrawal, absence from school, behavioral problems and depression.

• All of this could be prevented simply by regular dental visits, self-care training, fluoride and sealants — services that children are supposedly entitled to under programs like Medicaid and SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

• These programs, however, are chronically under-funded and fail to attract enough dentists to make them work. Nationwide, according to National Conference of State Legislatures, fewer than one in five dentists are participating in Medicaid.

• The bottom line:  Kids suffer.

Senator Bingaman is proposing some technical modifications to SCHIP (a new wrap-around insurance plan for dentistry):  $50 million in new state incentives and planning grants to strengthen Medicaid, $40 million for community health centers and public health departments, and $25 million to support the Department of Health and Human Services’ vaguely defined "Oral Health Initiative." 

I think we ought to be thankful that dental care for disadvantaged kids is finally getting some Congressional attention. And I suppose we should be thankful as well that Senator Bingaman (and his seven co-sponsors) are ready to commit $115 million in new spending to make some improvements in the Medicaid and SCHIP programs.

Yet, when you stop to do the math, there are 23 million children enrolled in Medicaid and SCHIP, so the $115 million figures out to be $5 per kid per year, which doesn't seem to be enough to make much of a difference. But, it's a start, as they say.

Here at the School of Dentistry , in our own small way, we're doing some important things to improve access to care for the disadvantaged children. Service to the underserved is one of the key components of our mission.

For the past six years, under the leadership of Michael McCunniff (D.D.S. `83), we have operated outreach programs in several communities in Missouri , specifically targeted at the needs of under-served Medicaid and SCHIP kids. For many of these children, our outreach teams were the first oral health professionals they ever saw.

This past year, we added a new program called the Partnership for Smiles. Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and eight local funding partners, it has made it possible for the School of Dentistry to add three new dental faculty members who rotate with students through five community health centers in greater Kansas City , to provide care to disadvantaged children and families. We expect the Partnership for Smiles to serve over 5,000 patients this year.

Also in the past 12 months, we've opened a 14-chair emergency clinic, under the leadership of Dr. Len Lausten, which is staffed and running eight hours per day, five days per week. In addition to our regular faculty, we have a number of wet-fingered volunteers from the community who serve as faculty members. They supervise the students, serve as role models and do a lot of quality dental work on folks who aren't used to getting it. This year, the E-Clinic will serve 8,000 patients.

Finally, as always, there are our undergraduate and advanced education clinics. They treat over 30,000 patients per year, many of them poor and struggling, who can't afford to get their dental care anywhere else. We're proud they come to us.

Over the past several years, we have received hundreds of gifts from alumni and friends in support of our efforts to provide dental care to disadvantaged kids. And we have had scores of volunteers who have given their time, energy and compassion. We thank you. These gifts make a difference.

If you'd like to make a donation this year, or get involved as a volunteer, please let me know. You can call me at 816-235-2173 or 800-887-4477 or e-mail me at danemanb@umkc.edu. We'd love to hear from you.

Thanks and best wishes.