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Access to Care

Denti-Cal Facts and Figures: A Look at California's Medicaid Dental Program

March 2007

Oral health is essential to overall health and quality of life. Left untreated, dental diseases can result in severe pain and infection, an inability to perform daily activities, and in very rare cases, death. In California, Medi-Cal beneficiaries -- especially children and pregnant women -- face considerable obstacles in obtaining dental services, despite having dental coverage.

This presentation provides an overview of California's Medicaid dental program, known as Denti-Cal. It highlights key statistics and trends related to access, utilization, expenditures, and providers.

The findings document a generally low use of dental services by all Medi-Cal beneficiaries, especially children under the age of 6, pregnant women, and seniors. About one quarter of Medi-Cal beneficiaries under the age of 12 have never been to a dentist.

Other key findings include:

• Denti-Cal is the primary public financer of dental care for some 8.5 million low-income, aged, and disabled Californians;
• Medi-Cal dental provider reimbursement rates are among the lowest in the nation, and are significantly below the fees charged by most dentists;
• Largely because of these low rates, only 40% of California's private dentists accept Medi-Cal dental reimbursement and the vast majority of these are general practitioners rather than pediatric or orthodontic specialists; and
• While research suggests that serious gum disease is associated with premature birth and low birth weight, as recently as 2004, only one in five pregnant Medi-Cal beneficiaries had a dental visit.

The complete presentation is available under Document Downloads below.

Document Downloads

Denti-Cal Facts and Figures: A Look at California's Medicaid Dental Program (1.099MB)

Denti-Cal Facts and Figures: County Data Appendix (163K)

Related CHCF Pages

Increasing Access to Dental Care in Medicaid: Does Raising Provider Rates Work?

Haves and Have-Nots: A Look at Children's Use of Dental Care in California

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