ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Benevis, a leading dental healthcare and orthodontics delivery organization committed to providing quality care to underserved communities, announces the release of its Price of Poor Oral Health white paper to shed light on the profound economic consequences and escalating costs associated with inadequate access to regular dental care in the United States.
In a March 2023 statement to the U.S. Senate, Marko Vujicic, chief economist and vice president of the Health Policy Institute at the American Dental Association, detailed the costly consequences of inadequate access to dental homes. He shared in the official announcement that “every 15 seconds in America, someone shows up at a hospital emergency department because of a dental issue. The estimated 2.1 million emergency department visits for dental conditions cost the U.S. healthcare system $2.7 billion each year, with Medicaid accounting for the largest share of this spending. This is an example of inefficient spending that could be avoided if more Americans had access to a dental home for routine care and prevention.”
The Benevis white paper explores the ripple effect of poor oral health, extending beyond the healthcare system to impact education, workforce productivity, and economic disparities. It emphasizes the need for affordable dental coverage, highlighting that an estimated 67 million Americans—nearly a quarter of the population—lack dental insurance. That is more than double the estimated 26 million Americans without health insurance, according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) 2021 report.
Source: Benevis White Paper Highlights Harmful Economic Impact of Poor Oral Health / businesswire