Children’s Dental Health
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Opportunities for Action

• Promote and practice prevention
• Increase the number of dental providers for low-income children
• Improve services for kids with disabilities and other special needs
• Offer services in underserved parts of the counties
• Ensure that parents can make and keep appointments

Increase the Number of Dental Providers for Low-Income Children

• Policy Incentives: County governments and state legislators can explore options and incentives for encouraging public health insurance participation by private providers. This may include reimbursement rate increases, paperwork reduction, outreach, and other non-financial incentives, which have led to positive results in Alabama, Ohio, and Michigan.
  
  
• Health Care Reform: Legislators can insure that appropriate dental coverage is included in any health care reform legislation.
  
  
• Participation from Private Providers: Private providers can serve more children with public health insurance as part of their regular practice and through periodic volunteer screening and treatment programs. Follow-up treatment needs are particularly great. Dental professionals also can participate in training others about the treatment and sedation of young children.
  
  
• Public Insurance Programs: Children's Health Initiatives can work more actively with dental health plans and providers to encourage treatment of publicly insured children.
  
  
• Translation Services: Public clinics and nonprofit dental organizations can recruit and/or train more translators who speak Spanish and other languages spoken in the community.