More dentists are agreeing to see Medicaid patients – but not enough to meet demand

It took oral health advocates nearly 25 years to persuade lawmakers to provide adults on Medicaid coverage for basic dental care. Gail Brown, one of those advocates, said she saw that investment pay dividends in far less time.

Brown was stopped this spring while bringing cakes to a party celebrating New Hampshire Smiles’ first year by a woman who wanted her to know how grateful her neighbor was to finally be able to see a dentist. Brown had heard something similar that morning when she picked up the cakes at a grocery store bakery. The woman behind the counter said the program had allowed her to see a dentist and her friend to get dentures.

“She said, ‘You don’t know how big a difference this has made in our lives,’” Brown, executive director of the New Hampshire Health Coalition, recalled. “I experienced this in all kinds of places.”

Brown and other oral health advocates also hear this: There are too few dentists for the nearly 85,000 people now eligible for expanded coverage, making it difficult for them to get appointments. Of the state’s nearly 970 dentists and oral surgeons, 163 have signed on. The goal is to reach 200.

The program also includes a mobile dental clinic that has made 84 stops across the state and continues to add dates.

Source: More dentists are agreeing to see Medicaid patients – but not enough to meet demand / New Hampshire Bulletin

One Response

  • More Dentists want to provide care but due to the behavior of MCOs with audits and hefty recoupments, this mission seam difficult.
    dentists are expected to provide care yet Dentaquest is expected to do audits and recoup all the money when they can.

    Its been happening throughout the country and nobody seems to care about the well being of dental providers.

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