January 13, 1999
The $100,000 study is expected to identify barriers to dental services across the state and suggest ways of improving access to children's dental services. A report is due by July.
The principal investigator for the study will be Ray Davis, chair of the health policy and management research team. Other members of the team are Michael H. Fox, health services administration; Barbara Langner, health policy advisor for the dean in the School of Nursing; Jocelyn M. Johnston, public administration and government; Rod D. McAdams, program director of the research team; and Janice M. Moore, research assistant.
The Health Ministry Fund recently committed $1.25 million to improve dental health in Kansas. The Healthy Teeth for Kansas campaign focuses on preventing tooth decay. The campaign provides grants to support dental sealant projects for children and community water fluoridation.
Kim Moore, president of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, said tooth decay is a big problem that the health community seems to have ignored. "The real shame is that this is a health problem that can be largely prevented," he said.
Moore maintains that tooth decay could be nearly wiped out with the proper preventive measures. "Fluoride, sealants and early professional care are the three legs of prevention." These work with the children of the poor.
The children of the poor are the ones who are not receiving the benefits of proven prevention techniques. Moore said 80 percent of dental decay is occurring in just 25 percent of children.
"These are poor children," he said. "The ones who aren't going to a dentist and finding out how to take care of their teeth ... the ones who aren't getting sealants ... the ones who aren't getting treatment until a decayed tooth becomes an emergency room visit."
He said this realization led to the study of access to Medicaid dental services.
"We asked why children who have dental services covered by Medicaid aren't seeing a dentist," Moore said. "Is it difficult to find a dentist who will accept Medicaid? Are parents aware of the need for an annual dental visit? Are there long waiting times to get an appointment or long distances to go to a dentist?
"Obviously there are a lot of questions needing answers before workable solutions can be discussed. We are turning to a highly qualified and experienced research team to provide credible answers before moving forward," he said.
At KU, Davis confirmed that preliminary research suggests there is a substantial problem with children, especially Medicaid children, accessing dental services and that the issue is understudied.
"As we prepared our proposal, we discovered few studies have looked at the oral health status and treatment needs for Medicaid children, and very little has been done in the state of Kansas," Davis said.
The study will focus on developing recommendations for ways to improve Medicaid childrens' access to dental services by surveying Kansas dentists, Medicaid beneficiaries and their advocates and policymakers.
Story by Dann Hayes, (785) 864-8855, University Relations