Nothing to Smile About

October 10, 2003

• After Settling Suit, FDA Changes Tune On Mercury Fillings • New Mint May Reduce Cavities In Kids • Dangers of Denture Cleansers • Acid Eating Away at Our Teeth, Report Finds • Oral Health a Matter of Life and Death for Seniors • Survey: Seniors Lack Access to Dental Care • Cigarette Smoking Leads to Root Canal • Water Fluoridation Still Lacking in Many Communities • Nothing to Smile About • Tooth Decay and Health Risks Seen In Bottled Water

No doubt many unpleasant surprises await the baby boomers as they enter their senior years. One is the sudden disappearance of the dental insurance that most boomers grew up with and learned to count on.

In fact, the lack of dental insurance is a long-standing problem for seniors but one that has received little attention from the press, legislators and senior groups, notes Linda Niessen, a geriatric dentist and professor of restoration sciences at Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas.

Medicare doesn't cover routine dental care. Medicaid, which provides coverage for impoverished seniors, covers only the most basic treatment; often that means seniors wind up with dentures instead of more expensive treatments such as root canals and crowns.

Boomers were the the first generation to grow up with workplace health benefits and they "think of dental insurance as a given," Niessen said.

In fact, public or private dental coverage for elderly Americans is so rare that a dental advocacy group last week assigned the United States a near-failing grade for its neglect of oral health in the elderly population.

Fewer than 20 percent of people over age 65 have any kind of dental insurance, a distinction that earned the nation a D rating from the group, Oral Health America.

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