MEDIA ALERT - PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

WEST ALLIS, Nov. 2, 2007 – Kenosha pediatric dentists Drs. Dennis M. Connolly and Lori J. Kerber will mark 31 years of providing free dental exams to local Head Start children next Tuesday, Nov. 6 from 8:30 – 11 a.m. at Cesar E. Chavez Learning Station, 6300 27^th Ave. when they, with help from their four-person staff, examine some 300 three- and four-year-olds.

These oral health services are valued at $15,000 and help the youngsters comply with the preschool program’s annual dental exam requirement. Based on exam results, a Head Start nurse will help children in need find follow-up care at the Kenosha Community Health Center or with a local dentist.

This annual Head Start charitable outreach has provided local uninsured and underserved children with more than $250,000 in free dental health services since 1976.

“We’re just one example of how Wisconsin dentists do serve by donating millions of dollars in dental care and treatment each year to low-income children and adults,” Kerber notes.

Volunteer data collection for 2006 shows 240 Wisconsin Dental Association dentists provided more than $2.6 million in free treatment to 17,560 low-income patients in need. Individually, Wisconsin dentists appear to donate $10,000 - $12,000 in care annually, in addition to the free dental services they each provide through non-reimbursed dental Medicaid, WDA Foundation’s Donated Dental Services, community clinic volunteering, Give Kids A Smile and other charitable programs.

In April 2005, a Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services report confirmed WDA concerns that MA patients in Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee and Waukesha counties have trouble accessing dental care despite the state’s $10 million payment to medical health maintenance organizations for the provision of dental services.

According to DHFS, Wisconsin spent approximately $2.7 million more under the HMO dental MA program in the four southeastern counties during the 2003 fiscal year than it would have spent for the exact same services had they been provided under the fee-for-service program operating in the state’s remaining 68 counties. The DHFS also concluded HMO-enrolled children were less likely to receive dental care than those in the fee-for-service system.

A detailed Legislative Audit Bureau report on the dental HMO program is more than two years overdue.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (physicians) says 20 percent of all health care funds spent on children should be directed at improving and maintaining oral health.

In Wisconsin, state and federal governments currently spend only $38 million, or less than one percent, of a total $4.4 billion annual MA budget on oral health programs for children and adults. Compared to Wisconsin, four out of every five states spend a higher percentage of their MA dollars on dental care for low-income individuals of all ages.

Despite two proposals to help improve dental MA access from the Assembly and Senate and a Two Cents for Tooth Sense™ market-rate reimbursement funding bill, the recently-approved 2007-09 state budget again failed to fulfill lawmakers’ promises to make oral health care for low-income Wisconsin residents a priority notes the WDA.

“Dentists are healers and long-time advocates of prevention. We want to partner with the state to help prevent dental disease, but policy-makers in Madison also need to improve the MA program so it is more feasible for dentists like me to treat infections and get people out of pain. We don't want someone in Wisconsin dying from complications of untreated dental disease like the tragedy that occurred in Maryland earlier this year,” says Kerber.

Established in 1870, the Wisconsin Dental Association is headquartered in West Allis. With more than 2,900 members statewide, it represents the vast majority of practicing dentists in Wisconsin. WDA members are committed to promoting professional excellence and quality oral health care. The Southeast Region serves the counties of Kenosha, Ozaukee, Racine, Rock, Walworth, Washington, and Waukesha. The WDA is one of 53 constituent (state-territorial) dental societies of the ADA – the largest and oldest national dental association in the world. For more information on the WDA, call 414-276-4520 or visit www.wda.org.

CONTACT:                 Carol S. Weber, APR, Director of Public Relations
PHONE:                     414-755-4108
E-MAIL:                     cweber@wda.org