Published: October 14, 2009 09:00 am      

Gov. Beshear seeks better dental health

FRANKFORT — Dr. Mike Porter, the executive director of the Kentucky Dental Association, said, “It’s a start.”

Al Smith, former newspaper publisher, host of Comment on Kentucky and chairman of the Appalachian Research Commission under President Jimmy Carter, called it “a promise kept.”

It is a nearly $2 million state initiative, paid for by grants from the ARC and the Health Resources and Services Administration to improve the dental health of Kentucky’s children, especially those in distressed counties of Appalachia.

Gov. Steve Beshear announced the program Tuesday and he will make stops in Russell, Morehead, Staffordsville and Hazard on Wednesday. The goal: to increase the number of dental visits for children up to six years old by 16 percent and to reduce the decay rate in children in the 40 distressed counties of Kentucky’s Appalachian region by 15 percent.

A 2001 University of Kentucky study found that 46 percent of Kentucky’s children between the ages of 2 and 4 already suffered some dental decay. In 2004, Kentucky led the nation in persons 65 and older who were missing teeth and 27 percent of Kentucky residents of all ages had lost six or more teeth to decay or gum disease compared to 18 percent nationally.

Porter said the state has about 2,300 dentists but, according to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, only about 450 of them are Medicaid providers who treat children. Of those, said Porter and the Cabinet, only about 50 are pediatric dentists. Only 28 of Kentucky’s 120 counties have practicing pediatric dentists.

“Dental health is a key component of overall health and well-being, and we want Kentucky’s children to have the healthy start in life they deserve,” Beshear said.

Smith applauded Beshear’s initiative. Smith has made better dental care for children in Kentucky an issue and he said Beshear’s announcement kept a promise he made in the 2007 gubernatorial election.

Smith said he spotted candidate Beshear at Lexington restaurant for a fundraising event and elicited his promise to deal with the problem if elected.

“We talk a lot about promises that are not kept,” Smith said to Beshear at the close of the press conference. “But you made promises to me twice that you’d do something about this issue, before you were elected and right after you were elected, and now we’re here. In bad times, this is good news.”

The program will be funded by an $877,332 grant from HRSA and two ARC grants, one for $593,978 and the other for $148,122. It will pay stipends for dentists to receive training in pediatric care, training which will count toward a year’s credit for required continuing education. The state will provide a match of nearly $466,000, virtually all of that in the form of in-kind administrative services. Beshear said less than $20,000 in actual cash would be spent by the state.

Beshear said another goal is to establish up to 12 coalitions across counties and communities to facilitate better dental health, tailored to individual community needs and characteristics. And by year three of the program, he said, the state hopes to provide at least two sets of portable dental equipment which can be utilized in non-clinical settings such as schools or day care centers.

Porter, the head of the dental association, said he’d like to see a requirement that all children undergo a full dental screening before entering school — just like the medical exams and proof of inoculation they now are required to have.

“We, as dental professionals, see it as a first step,” Porter said of the initiative announced Tuesday. “It took us 10 years to get this — but it’s a start.”

Beshear will continue to promote the program with stops Wednesday at Russell Elementary in Greenup County at 9 a.m.; at McBrayer Elementary in Morehead at 11 a.m.; at Highland Elementary in Staffordsville at 1:30 p.m. and at Dennis Wooten Elementary in Hazard at 4 p.m.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. The Richmond Register is a CNHI newspaper.