Reducing Early Childhood Tooth Decay: Approaches in Medicaid Issue Briefs

Posted & filed under Children's Oral Health and Fluoride, Fluoride and Public Health, Fluoride, Oral Health, and Access to Care.

Medicaid spends billions of dollars every year on dental care for children, but their oral health is not improving. States across the nation are redesigning their health care systems to achieve the three-part aim of higher quality health care, healthier populations, and lower per capita costs. You can help ensure that these efforts encompass recommended approaches to early childhood caries (ECC), the infectious disease that causes tooth decay.

Young Child Brushing Teeth ChildhoodWith these issue briefs, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) aims to raise understanding of ECC, how to prevent it, and how to manage it as a chronic childhood disease by offering practical steps that state Medicaid programs and their partners can take to improve care and outcomes and lower costs.