The ADA has issued a statement disputing this week's Pew report that found that midlevel dental providers (MLPs) could significantly reduce the millions of children who have no access to dental care.
The group cast "serious doubt" on the notion that a shortage of dentists has created a major barrier to access to care for underserved populations.
"Proponents of this view further state that retirement among baby boomer dentists will worsen the problem. This then leads to calls for alternative providers to solve this workforce shortage. But is the size of the dentist workforce really a major factor affecting access disparities? The facts cast serious doubt on that notion," the ADA stated.
The ADA noted that the number of Medicaid children in Mississippi who had dental visits went from 22% in 2000 to 43% in 2011, despite the fact that Mississippi has the biggest dentist shortage, in terms of the percent of the population unserved, according to the government's health professional shortage area (HPSA) methodology.
States that had increases in the percent of the population unserved according to the HPSA methodology actually did better in terms of access for children covered by Medicaid than those that had decreases in dental HPSAs, the ADA said.
Access to dental care among Medicaid children actually increased in 47 out of 50 states between 2000 and 2011.
Between 2010 and 2012, the portion of the U.S. population living in dental HPSAs decreased to less than 10%, lower than the equivalent measure for primary medical care providers.
Nationally, 40% of dentists report that their practices can accommodate more patients. That percentage has increased substantially in the past five years, the ADA said.
Earlier this year, the ADA launched a campaign, Action for Dental Health, to achieve a set of goals to reduce untreated dental disease in America by providing care to people with untreated disease, strengthening and expanding the public/private safety net to provide more care to more Americans, and bringing dental health education and disease prevention into communities.
"Action for Dental Health will demonstrate measureable success in improving dental health in underserved communities without major increases in the numbers of dentists or by adding additional providers to treat cavities, by better utilizing and improving resources already available," the ADA stated.
