The mobile dental program at Suncoast Community Health Center brings dental care to low-income communities, specifically serving children who have difficulty accessing quality dental services.
The mobile dental clinic operated by this nonprofit organization in Hillsborough County faces many children who suffer from severe caries and multiple abscesses and endure long-term pain.
Dr. Ola Cisneros, chief dental officer of Suncoast, said that caries not only affects children’s health, but also seriously interferes with their sleep and learning.
She gave an example of a two-year-old child who needed 16 of his 20 baby teeth extracted, and multiple abscesses could even cause life-threatening infections.
Although some patients have Medicaid, it is often difficult to find a private dentist who accepts the subsidy, resulting in these children receiving almost no effective treatment.
Florida faces a serious imbalance between supply and demand for dental care, especially for people covered by Medicaid.
Florida’s dental visit rate ranks low in the United States, and the proportion of third-grade children with untreated cavities ranks sixth in the country.
Less than 30% of children on Medicaid in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties receive regular dental checkups.
To improve this situation, the Florida Dental Patient Alliance proposed introducing a system of dental therapists – licensed professionals who are specially trained and perform basic dental treatments under the supervision of dentists.
Dental therapists can take and interpret X-rays, develop treatment plans, fill teeth and remove deciduous teeth, but do not involve complex surgery.
Multiple studies have shown that dental therapists’ treatment quality and safety are guaranteed, and the cost is lower, which helps expand the coverage of primary dental services.
Currently, 14 states have passed relevant legislation, but although Florida’s bill has been supported by the House of Representatives, it has encountered resistance in the Senate.
Opponents mainly come from the “organized dentistry” group, who are concerned about the quality of treatment, but there is no substantial data to support their doubts. Advocates believe that allowing dental therapists to practice is an important way to alleviate the shortage of dental resources in Florida and prevent serious dental diseases.
At the same time, Florida is about to implement a drinking water fluoride ban on July 1. Experts predict that there may be 25 million new cases of tooth decay in the country in the next five years, further exacerbating the pressure on dental demand. Experts emphasize that water fluoridation is an effective public health means to prevent tooth decay, especially for economically disadvantaged groups.
Lack of dental care also brings broader health risks, including bacterial infections leading to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and chronic disease management difficulties such as diabetes.
In 2021, Hillsborough County alone had 258 hospitalizations due to life-threatening infections caused by preventable dental diseases, with a cost of more than $11.8 million.
Although non-profit organizations such as Tampa Family Health Center and St. Peter’s Free Clinic provide some assistance, community health centers are burdened.
Suncoast Community Health Center regularly serves children’s resource centers in many places through fixed clinics and two mobile dental buses, hoping to introduce dental therapists and other measures to intervene in treatment as early as possible to prevent dental diseases from worsening.
Due to the scarcity of dental care resources, many patients can only seek help through hospital emergency rooms. Data shows that in 2021, Hillsborough County had 7,788 dental emergency visits, costing $26.6 million.
Experts pointed out that emergency rooms can only provide temporary pain relief and antibiotic treatment, and cannot fundamentally solve dental problems. They called for legislation to support the expansion of primary dental services to alleviate this increasingly severe dental care crisis.