Dentist services are not available to most Americans.

Фото: Depositphotos

The widening gap between rich and poor Americans is very noticeable on the cost of a dentist.

While the rich spend over a billion dollars every year just to make a smile whiter, millions of other people rely on charity clinics and emergency rooms to treat painful and neglected dental diseases, writes The Washington Post.

Sometimes, due to the large number of people who wish, they have to take a turn at night to get a free appointment.

Not being able to pay for expensive procedures and crowns, many simply remove bad teeth. Nearly 20% of Americans are older than 65 years, not a single real tooth remains.

Dental problems are particularly acute in rural areas, where people use non-fluorinated water from wells, which negatively affects the condition of the teeth. 25% of Americans do not have access to fluorinated water, and in addition, due to lack of money, they often trigger dental problems, leading to exacerbations and severe pain. In the 2016 year, more than 2 million visits to emergency rooms in the US were associated with severe toothache. These visits cost about $ 1,6 billion, but emergency departments are usually not equipped for dentistry, they simply relieve pain or advise people on painkillers, often opioids, which only increases the dependence of Americans on these drugs. is of concern to physicians.

Another problem is that there is a shortage of dentists in the United States, especially in small towns and rural areas—sometimes requiring patients to travel 200 miles to see a doctor.

This is because after graduation from college, dentists usually have a large tuition fee, so they tend to work in rich regions and large cities where they have a chance to make more money. A typical graduate of a dental school owes an average of $ 260 thousand.

If they succeed. This opens personal dental offices where modern, expensive equipment is installed, which also affects the cost of services for their patients.

A separate problem is the separation of medical and dental services, which leads to the need to purchase two different insurances, which is expensive for most people.

Even MedicareThe federal health insurance program that covers the 55 of millions of older people and people with disabilities does not cover dental expenses.

Dental insurance, as a rule, limits annual payments per person at the level of about $ 1500 per year, this amount was set more than 10 years ago and does not correspond to the current level of dental services. At the same time, the cost of insurance itself ranges from $ 500 per year, so more than 30% of adult Americans do not have dental insurance.

Low-income adults in certain states can get dental insurance through Medicaid, the federal public health program for low-income Americans. But only 38% of US dentists accept patients by Medicaid, while insurance covers only part of the costs.

In several states Medicaid does not offer dental insurance for adults at all.

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