Street Roots editorial
We need to get real about dental healthcare in Portland and
around the state. We see these problems every single week at Street Roots. It’s
mostly emergency circumstances that require a visit to the emergency room (ER).
In many cases, individuals simply try to deal with the pain and agony.
Last year, the Pew Charitable Trust’s Dental Campaign
compiled a report on the cost to states as people go to the emergency room with
dental health care problems, shifting the expense on Medicaid and other public
programs. Their report estimates that preventable dental conditions were the
primary reason for 830,590 ER visits by Americans in 2009 — a 16 percent
increase from 2006. In 2010, according to the report, the number of
dental-related emergency visits by Oregon’s Medicaid enrollees was 31 percent
higher than just two years before. That translates into tens of millions of
dollars in emergency room charges.
According to a 2010 study by the Oregon Department of Human
Services, 20 percent of children had significant tooth decay in seven or more
of their teeth. And a 2006 report by the same department found that 16,000
school hours are lost in Oregon due to dental pain in students and emergency
visits to the dentist.
The statistics about the consequences for Oregonians with
bad dental care go on and on. Street Roots has advocated for more than a decade
through our news pages about the need for a more robust dental strategy in our
region and state.
We’re headed in the right direction. With the opening of the
Multnomah County dental clinic in Old Town we’re one step closer to being able
to get at the root of the problem. We know that with the changing healthcare
environment that we’ll have more opportunities in the future to serve a range
of individuals that don’t currently have access.
Putting fluoride in the water to treat tooth decay and to
support dental health is a no-brainer. The idea that we shouldn’t put fluoride
in our water is simply ridiculous. We don’t believe for one second that the
City of Portland and a broad base of community health organizations would work
against the public’s best interest when it comes to putting fluoride in our
water. Having the evidence to support the fluoride issue doesn’t hurt either.
We have the opportunity to do great things on the healthcare
front in our community. The decisions we make today will have a lasting impact
for generations to come. There’s no better time than the present. Street Roots
believes a more healthy community and is a more just community. We’re getting
there little by little.
This article appears in 2013-03-15.