The Danger of Dodging Dental Care

“Dentist appointment.” Those two innocent little words tend to send tremors of dread through a hefty portion of Americans.

“I take great care of my health but religiously put off my dentist appointment – I cancel every one until I get my nerve up,” one 30-something Boston resident told LifeZette. “So I actually see the dentist probably about every eight months, instead of every six.”

This is not uncommon. Factors such as cost, anxiety and, surprisingly, even our society’s focus on good oral health has actually impacted our getting ourselves into the chair and donning the dental bib.

“Dentistry in general has become too good at focusing society on good oral health, causing Americans to use better toothpastes and focus on the importance of their smile and white healthy teeth,” Dr. Paul Casamassimo, director of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s Oral Health Research & Policy Center, told LifeZette.

“What this has done has taken the importance off the focus of the actual check-ups every six months, which are so important for good dental health.”

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Dentistry recently made the political arena down South, when Florida state Rep. John Cortes, D-Kissimmee, spoke before a House Health Innovation Subcommittee in support of bill HB19. It would allow dental services to be taken off the list of services that managed care plans are required to offer Medicaid recipients. The bill passed 12-1, which allows vendors like MCNA Dental, a Fort Lauderdale dental benefits company, to provide the care instead.

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MCNA lost all its Medicaid contracts in Florida in 2011 after mandatory managed care was put in place.

However, according to a 2015 Stanford University study in conjunction with the University of California,San Francisco, Truven Health Analytics and the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Equality, more than 2 percent of all emergency department visits are now related to nontraumatic dental conditions. The researchers are calling for expanded dental benefits under the Affordable Care Act.

“It is likely that EDs (emergency departments) will continue to provide care to individuals without adequate access to community-based dental care unless new dental service delivery models are developed to expand access in underserved areas, and unless more dental providers begin to accept Medicaid under the ACA,” the researchers wrote in their study, published in Health Affairs.

[lz_bulleted_list title=”Top Reasons for Dodging the Dentist” source=”http://www.Everydayhealth.com”]Cost|Dental anxiety|Fear of needing dental work|Fear of dental instruments|Bad memories|Too busy or lazy|Fear of a lecture[/lz_bulleted_list]

“Anyone can die of a toothache,” Cortes said dramatically during the committee meeting, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “Believe it or not, you can.”

Can you really die of a toothache?

“Yes, it is possible to die from complications of an infected tooth,” Thomas Porter, who is on the faculty of the University of Florida College of Dentistry, told the Times.

“Every year there are cases where the patient did not receive appropriate and timely treatment of an infected tooth. In most cases, the infected tooth starts as a localized site with pain and infection.”

Cases in point: John Schneider of Mount Orab, Ohio, died in 2014 after what he thought was just a sinus infection turned out to be an infected tooth. The infection soon entered his bloodstream, causing sepsis, and he died.

“We asked him to go to the doctor and he wouldn’t go. He was like, ‘I’m OK, I’m OK, I don’t have any money,” his mother, Aloha Schneider, told wlwt.com. Schneider was just 31.

“A lot of dental problems don’t hurt until they get to the point where the only solution is treatment,” Casamassimo says. “That keeps many patients away; they don’t know they have a problem.”

[lz_bulleted_list title=”Percentage of Population with a Dental Visit in the Past Year” source=”CDC 2013″]Ages 2-17: 83.0%|Ages 18-64: 61.7%|Ages 65 and over: 60.6%[/lz_bulleted_list]

The CDC’s latest data from 2013 shows that as we age, dental visits drop.

“General health is also at risk, too, as studies continue to associate poor oral health with diabetes, heart disease, strokes, pneumonia, premature babies and other major conditions,” nationalsmilemonth.org shares on its website. “With a good oral health routine, most of these conditions are preventable.”

And care must start early.

“Fifty years ago, the thinking was to get kids to the dentist by school age,” said Casamassimo. “A lot has changed since then. From data, we realized that a lot of kids had tooth decay, and by 4 or 5 years of age, half of the kids in the country had tooth decay. Now, we want to see them at age 1.”

To avoid all dental problems, including those that may be deadly, see your dentist every six months, and be alert to any pain or changes in your mouth or your teeth.

And never let finances stop you from obtaining care if you think you might have a problem.

“Most practitioners have a heart. If they see if you’re in trouble, they will give you antibiotics, get you to the hospital so that you can avert these things,” Cincinnati oral surgeon Dr. Richard Kruer told wlwt.com after Schneider’s passing.