Modest investments will help states improve access to dental care and build a healthier future for children as has been realized. This is the reason why Pew Children’s Dental Campaign said May 24 in a second annual report card, The State of Children's Dental Health: Making Coverage Matter.

The things that are going to be included in this are proven low-cost preventive strategies as school-based sealant programs and community water fluoridation. Pew noted that many states have been facing long-term challenges to keep their budgets balanced, and yet policy makers need to prioritize investments that provide them with real savings to taxpayers down the road. Some states are leading the way by making modest investments that will pay off in the years to come for children, families, states and the nation as a whole.

Using the same eight policy benchmarks that determined grades on an A-F scale for 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2010, Pew stated that even in a time of major fiscal stress, many states have managed to improve their grades on children’s dental health.

States continued to make progress in providing more care to low-income children enrolled in Medicaid, but the reimbursement rates paid by state Medicaid programs to participating dentists got worse due to fiscal difficulties.

The findings threw up that there is a whole lot of room for improvement. Even those states that have good policies can do much more than what they already are to make certain that children receive the right kind of dental care.

ADA President Raymond F. Gist has gone on to state that a reputed organization like Pews will be able to focus the right amount of resources on oral health to help improve the lives of millions of children. In order for this to be achieved one will need to be much more focused on education, prevention and financing care.

Pew policy benchmark number seven grades states on authorizing a new type of primary care dental provider, and cites several models including dental therapists, community dental health coordinators and advanced dental hygiene practitioners.

The professionals that have been named will go on to play a major role. There is an immense need to go on and support more of an innovative approach for children and families with dental care needs but are left out from the gambit of it.

The government and the private sector need to work together to remove barriers to care, promote prevention and engage policy makers in making oral health a priority as was observed by the President Ralph Fuccillo of DentaQuest Foundation.