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Sue Mackey Andrews of Dover-Foxcroft is a volunteer with Assisting Fingers with Heart and the Maine Highlands Doing the job Communities Problem.
Though Mainers acquire satisfaction in the numerous strategies in which we provide as a beneficial job product for the relaxation of the nation, oral wellness is just one space the place we have been failing our young children.
Maine ranks 3rd to past in the nation in the proportion of little ones insured by Medicaid who obtain any preventive dental care. Even among little ones who have commercial dental rewards, way too numerous go without having care.
There are a lot of causes for this extensive-standing trouble. Maine suffers from a lack of dentists, and in some places of the point out, it can just take several hrs to vacation to a dental office if parents can manage the support, have the transportation necessary, and actually can get time off perform to just take their boy or girl. This stop by is usually “out of our county” and can eat a entire day — meaning skipped college and missed do the job.
Tooth pain can an amazing agonizing experience for young children and can disrupt their education and learning and the easy matters in life — like ingesting. When small children have weak dentition, cavities or prematurely misplaced teeth, their self-esteem struggles. This state of affairs can unfortunately prolong into adulthood and negatively impact a person’s means to get a job due to lousy dentition.
Dental disease is mostly preventable when youngsters have entry to early avoidance and remedy. Having said that, in our Maine Highlands area, where extra than half of our children less than age 12 are enrolled in MaineCare — the state’s Medicaid program — we have only a single dentist who accepts MaineCare.
Dental ailment plagues so a lot of people today in Maine that it seems we have neglected it is a condition we know how to avoid and deal with. Brushing, flossing and good diet habits are absolutely an essential component of oral well being treatment, but building certain kids can get preventive products and services like fluoride varnish and sealants also has a important affect. Sad to say, for too several family members, securing time off from perform, acquiring a dentist to see their small children, physically acquiring there and staying capable to afford to pay for the fees are all boundaries that prevent little ones from having this essential wellbeing care.
A person critical resolution is the Maine Centre for Sickness Handle and Prevention’s College Oral Health and fitness Program, which provides oral well being screenings, fluoride varnish and sealants correct to students where they presently are: in school. Several grown ups now keep in mind the glory times of this program when young children lined up for the pink plaque-disclosing tablets and fluoride “swish.” Quite straightforward, suitable? And powerful, much too.
Regretably, cuts more than the many years have removed all of the state oral overall health staff members positions, and the faculty plan presently serves only about a third of elementary educational facilities in the condition.
This yr, our Legislature has the option to reverse this downward pattern. LD 1501, An Act to Safeguard Oral Health for Young children in Maine, would develop the School Oral Well being Software so that all colleges can take part. The monthly bill would also restore one particular state oral wellness coordinator place at the Maine CDC to ensure the program’s effectiveness and information-driven tactic, as well as to deal with workforce shortages and supply public health and fitness leadership on oral well being concerns for all ages in Maine.
Exploring ways to make preventive dental care a lot more accessible is great for the overall economy as very well as fantastic for our wellness. Every single point out standard fund greenback used on Medicaid dental services provides in almost twice as much in federal matching resources. The restoration of a condition oral well being coordinator is imperative to make Maine competitive in applying for accessible federal oral well being funding that we have been leaving on the table.
When we sacrifice our children’s oral overall health to conserve a handful of pennies, we spend a much even worse value and we pay it above and in excess of yet again. There are quite a few issues facing the Legislature this session, but this is a winnable fight, and the time to act is now. Oral health is overall health, and our kids need this to be successful in lifestyle.