2 days ago
Oral health continues to be a challenge in Arkansas
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Brushing, flossing and annual dental checkups are very important, but officials say oral care in Arkansas continues to be a problem.
Officials with the ADH Oral Health Program said Arkansas has many rural areas, and access to oral health care for people who live in rural areas can be challenging due to longer driving distances to care and other factors such as insurance coverage.
Arkansas also has some counties that have been federally designated as dental provider shortage areas, which means there are not enough dentists to care for the population residing in the county.
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Dental Director for Delta Dental of Arkansas, a dental benefits company, Niki Carter says after and during COVID oral health care became bad nationwide. However, last year Arkansas was ranked low for poor oral care.
'Arkansas is 50th in the nation, so we have our work cut for us,' Carter said.
Carter explained that one way there's a gap in care has to do with distribution.
'60% of dentists practice in only eight of the state's 75 counties and these eight counties represent 40% of the state's population that are all in urban areas,' Carter said. 'Technically, 60% of the population lives in rural areas.'
Carter said that's not the only problem, the other issue is a shortage of dentists.
'Technically, there is a shortage of dentists per 100,000 population in our state,' Carter said.
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Carter says most dentists want to practice in metropolitan areas, which is why she's glad Lyon College will open the state's first dental school this month.
'One aspect of poor oral health is it affects numerous systemic illnesses,' Carter said.
She also says students could go through a loan repayment program helping serve those needed areas.
'New dental students are graduating with $300,000 and $400,000 in debt. Through the repayment program, they will go to these rural areas and practice for a certain amount of time and pay back that loan,' Carter said.
Carter says they also partner with multiple companies that provide care to patients, hoping they can help close the gap.
One of the partners is Teledentistry, where members have 24/7 access to dental visits.
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Officials with the Arkansas Department of Health Office of Oral Health also say they're focused on promoting lifelong, optimum oral health for all Arkansans through education and prevention.
This includes programming that educates health care providers about the interplay of oral health on systemic health, raising awareness about oral disease and the importance of regular dental care and programming that promotes and supports daily oral health hygiene habits for all ages, particularly children.
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