HPC recommends measures to address racial & income disparities in dental health
Photo | Courtesy of Health Policy Commission
At a board meeting on Wednesday, the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission discussed recommendations to address stark race and income disparities in dental-related emergency room visits shown in a report by the Center for Health Information and Analysis.
HPC recommended Massachusetts authorize several policies to address these disparities, including mid-level dental therapists, referral programs connecting emergency department visitors to dental providers, and teledentistry programs.
HPC included research showing emergency department visits for oral health issues vary by race and ethnicity, age, income, region, and insurance payer type, suggesting disparities in access to preventative care and treatment.
Of all dental-related emergency department visits in Massachusetts, 63% were from Black or Hispanic/Latinx patients in 2019, with Black residents experiencing 2.7 times more emergency department visits than white residents.
Emergency department visits were also stratified by income, as residents from Massachusetts’ two lowest-income community quintiles made up 65% of all visits related to oral health.
Patients attributed to Boston Medical Center providers had 70% more emergency department visits and 145 percent more avoidable visits than patients attributed to providers affiliated with Atrius or South Shore Health, said another 2019 report by HPC.
HPC noted the continued challenge of accessible and affordable oral healthcare made evident by these figures.
“When individuals lack access to oral health care, they may turn to the emergency department for care that could have been prevented or treated in a dental office,” HPC explained in its board meeting notes.
A substantial number of emergency department visits in Massachusetts are for preventable dental health problems, according to the HPC. Most visits result in pain and symptom management, rather than treatments like extraction or root canals, which are provided in a dental office.
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