With Children Across Upstate New York Suffering From Serious Lack Of Access To Adequate Dental Care, Schumer Pushes Legislation To Ensure Upstate Kids Have Access To Quality Dental Programs

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With Children Across Upstate New York Suffering From Serious Lack Of Access To Adequate Dental Care, Schumer Pushes Legislation To Ensure Upstate Kids Have Access To Quality Dental Programs

As Health Care Costs Skyrocket Across the State, Parents Struggle to Afford Adequate Dental Care for their Kids - Approximately 37,000 Kids in the Capital Region are without Dental Insurance; 40,000 in CNY; 52,000 in the Rochester Area; 115,000 in HV; 29,000 in North Country; 33,000 in ST; 59,000 in WNY

Schumer Pushes New Legislation that Will Revamp Oral Care for Children Across NY, Providing Federal Support for Dental Programs and Incentives to Bring New Dentists Upstate

Schumer: Dental Care Across Upstate Gives Us Little To Smile About

With thousands of parents across Upstate New York struggling to afford and find adequate dental care for their children, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that he will push legislation in the Senate to increase access to dental care for families and children across New York. As the costs of health care continue to rise across the country and threaten access to oral care for children and families across New York State, Schumer announced support for the Deamonte Driver Dental Care Access Improvement Act of 2008—a comprehensive and bipartisan bill introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to help combat an impending health care crisis.

"When it comes to dental care in our state, there is little to smile about," said Schumer. "The people who need it most—kids who live in cities, rural towns and tiny, underserved communities—are being left out by a system that is plagued by rising health insurance costs and a limited number of dentists to provide care. This bill is a significant step towards ensuring that children in every pocket of Upstate New York have access to oral care that is comprehensive, affordable, and consistent."

Over the past decade, the cost of health care has skyrocketed. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, total health expenditures per capita were $6,280 in 2004, doubling (+123%) from $2,821 in 1990. Dental care expenses are no exception. As employers are forced to increase prices and decrease benefits, dental insurance is often one of the first benefits to be cut. Nationally, as many as 36 percent of children are without dental insurance on any given day. For every one resident without healthcare, it is estimated that three are without dental care.

Another significant challenge is the limited number of dental professionals, particularly pediatric dentists available to meet the increasing demand for care as our population increases. Almost 90 percent of dentists across the nation are over the age of 40. According to the New York State Department of Health, there are only 4,117 dentists in Upstate New York, which translates into one dentist for every 1,716 people. These dentists are often distributed in a geographically uneven pattern, meaning that rural or inner city areas across the state - often where there is the most need - suffer the greatest lack of care. It is estimated that less than 7% of graduates from New York dental schools are currently practicing in a designated Dental Health Professional Shortage Area.

Lack of adequate dental care can have devastating affects on the health of children across the state. Dental health is strongly connected to general well-being. In fact, oral diseases have been linked to ear and sinus infections and weakened immune systems, as well as diabetes, and heart and lung disease. Lack of treatment can adversely affect speech, nutrition, social development, and quality of life. In the worst case scenario, such as the case of a Maryland boy named Deamonte Driver, the namesake of this bill, lack of treatment sadly led to his death. Studies have found that children with oral diseases are restricted in their daily activities and miss over 51 million hours of school each year.

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