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Lack of dental care leads to higher number of ER cases in Springfield MOby Linda Russell, KY3 News
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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- One of the most common reasons that people visit the emergency room here is probably not what you'd think: it's dental pain. It's one of the biggest issues discussed in a report by The Health Commission in Springfield and Greene County. With no dental coverage and no way to afford a dentist appointment, many patients end up in pain and at the ER. In St. John's Hospital's ER, it's the type of case that comes up many times each day: a patient with a terrible tooth ache. "We're providing a temporizing treatment, whether it's to control the pain or, if it's an infection, to help suppress an infection," said Dr. Ted McMurray, medical director of St. John's Emergency Trauma Center. The ER can't treat the root of the problem, however. Still, for patients 20 to 39 years old, dental cases make up more than 7 percent of all ER visits in Greene County. They make up 10 percent of all Medicaid visits, and a whopping 37 percent of all uninsured visits. "It really is an access problem," McMurry said. Sometimes, it may be a night or weekend emergency, when a patient's dentist is unavailable. Many other times, the patient has no dentist. "A lot of patients who come in with dental needs have really generalized dental disease. It's not just a tooth that's the problem," McMurry said. Jordan Valley Community Health Center is making a small dent in the number of people with no dental care. "Before that, there were few, if any, resources for adults," said McMurry. The dental clinic served more than 11,500 patients in 2009, with 90 percent covered by Medicaid. There's also a sliding scale for uninsured people. "We are so busy, I think we could keep five more doctors busy," said Dr. Laurel Prichard, a dentist at Jordan Valley Community Health Center. There are still many unserved, emergency or not. "It seems like, for the most part, a lot of adults have no dental coverage, and that ends them up at the emergency room a lot of times," said Prichard. It's a problem with no solution yet. "We're kind of at a point of uncertainty right now. We know that the national healthcare reform is happening, and where dental falls into that is kind of unknown," Prichard said. The Kitchen Clinic in Springfield serves uninsured dental patients but is limited by the availability of volunteer dentists.
The Missouri Dental Association provided KY3 with the following statement regarding dental care in the state: MDA is continually working on solutions to address rising cost of care and access to existing dental providers, and to explore options of additional providers. However, the MDA does not specifically suggest use of an Advanced Dental Hygiene Practitioner. Rather, the MDA supports the Community Dental Health Coordinator and Oral Preventive Assistant workforce models developed by the American Dental Association. Access to critical dental care is certainly an issue of major concern, especially for those individuals without medical or dental insurance. The MDA continues to address these issues with the Missouri Legislature.
More information on what Missouri dentists are doing to better the oral health of all Missourians can be found at the Missouri Dental Association website. Most Viewed
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