NEWS: Sanders to Lead HELP Committee in Hearing on Dental Crisis in America

WASHINGTON, May 14 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, this Thursday, May 16 at 10:00 a.m. ET, will lead the committee in a hearing titled, “Examining the Dental Care Crisis in America: How Can We Make Dental Care More Affordable and More Available?”

“In America today we have a dental crisis that we have got to address,” said Chairman Sanders. “Dental care in America is way too expensive. We don't have enough dentists, dental hygienists, or dental therapists. Far too many Americans, especially in rural areas, do not have access to a dentist, which forces them to either travel long distances or go without the care they need. Very few dentists accept Medicaid preventing the most vulnerable people in America from getting the dental procedures they need. And there is a major lack of transparency in the prices dentists charge. The results have been tragic: One out of five seniors in our country are missing all of their natural teeth. Over 40% of children in America have tooth decay by the time they reach kindergarten. And about half of Americans with dental insurance skip getting the dental care they need because they cannot afford it. That is unacceptable and must change.”  

In the United States today, 91 million Americans do not have any dental insurance. More than 40% of children in America have tooth decay by the time they reach kindergarten, and about half of our nation’s seniors have no dental insurance. One out of five seniors are missing all their natural teeth and cannot afford a full set of dentures, which can cost many thousands of dollars. Nearly half of adults have some form of periodontal disease, which makes them two to three times more likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or other serious cardiovascular event.

This crisis affects Americans of all ages and is only getting worse, hitting rural communities and low-income families the hardest. According to the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, there were 1.8 million visits to emergency rooms across the country for preventative dental conditions in 2019 – a 62% increase from 2014.

Details
What: Senate HELP Committee Hearing title, “Examining the Dental Care Crisis in America: How Can We Make Dental Care More Affordable and More Available?”
When: 10:00 a.m. ET, Thursday, May 16, 2024
Where: Room 430, Dirksen Senate Office Building. The hearing will also be livestreamed on the HELP Committee’s website and on Chairman Sanders’ socials.
Who:

• Lisa Simon, MD, DMD, Associate Physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Member of the Faculty, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
• Myechia Minter-Jordan, MD, MBA, President and CEO, CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, Boston, MA
• Brian Jeffrey Swann, DMD, MPH, Board of Directors, Remote Area Medical (RAM), Co-Chair, Global Oral Health Outreach, National Dental Association, Rockford, TN
• Gordon Roswell Isbell, III, DMD, MAGD, Past Trustee, Academy of General Dentistry, Gadsden, AL