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.