Health Resource Capacity Assessment for Danielson, Connecticut, June 2003

Health Resource Capacity Assessment for Danielson, Connecticut

June 2003

Danielson Description

Health Needs and Barriers to Care

Health Needs and Barriers to Care: Dental care

A large majority of stakeholders listed poor dental health and a severe shortage of dentists who take Medicaid, SAGA, HUSKY and uninsured patients in the area as one of the most serious threats to Danielson's health. Providers noted cases of adults in Danielson who had never seen a dentist. A doctor said he had seen a 28 year old woman who'd lost all her teeth due to decay and had other patients with "teeth you can see light through." While there are 58 dentists listed in Danielson's Yellow Pages, at least three of which have offices in Danielson, only one dentist in the area accepts children on HUSKY and only one other accepts adult HUSKY/Medicaid patients⁶¹. While every child in the HUSKY program is entitled to two dental visits per year, in Windham County 64% HUSKY children received no preventive dental visit in federal fiscal year 2001, and 80% received no dental treatment visit. Both of those rates were down slightly from the previous year⁶².

Several stakeholders noted that the presence of the new dental van has improved the situation immensely, especially for children's access to care. The dental van is a joint project of the Northeast District Dept. of Health, Day Kimball Hospital, Generations Family Health Center, and the Northeast Connecticut Council of Governments. The van provides dental screenings and preventive services by a dental hygienist and a dentist. Between April 1 and November 30, 2002, the van served 4200 area children. The van has visited 31 schools in the region as well as many community sites, such as the Danielson library, shelters and farms to serve migrant workers. The van is widely viewed as the most successful example of cooperative planning for effective solutions to improve health.

However, a crushing need for more dentists in the area accepting HUSKY, SAGA, Medicaid and uninsured patients, especially adults, was cited by many as their highest recommendation for this report⁶³. Childcare providers and other stakeholders noted that many parents did not appreciate the need for children to visit a dentist in early childhood, long before they lose baby teeth. Several also felt that dental care is not as high a priority for the uninsured, given that dental care is costly and many do not consider it as important as other health care⁶⁴.

Next: Health Needs and Barriers to Care: Child Abuse

Footnotes