patient’s teeth are cleaned by dental hygienist (Getty Images)
Whether you consider it part of your regular health maintenance or a bit of a chore, going to the dentist — and even having access to oral health care — is a crucial indicator of a person’s health.
Yet oral health care has consistently been treated by our health system as nonessential and separate from overall health. Because of this, individuals in communities across the US struggle to access basic oral health care, including nearly 70 million adults who lack dental insurance .
A state’s priorities are reflected in its policies, and for years dental coverage was not a priority across the US. Finally, that notion seems to be changing — so much so that we are experiencing the most significant growth in the number of state Medicaid programs offering adult dental benefits in recent decades. In fact, between 2020 and 2022, nearly half of all states expanded their Medicaid adult dental benefit offerings , including Kansas.