All Vermonters have access to high quality health care and 5 more... less...

Vermonters have good oral health

All Vermonters have Access to High Quality Health Care

All Vermonters have access to high quality health care

Equitable Access: Vermonters have access to programs, services, and supports in healthcare, childcare, nutrition, and transportation

Vermonters are Healthy

% of adults using dental system yearly

Current Value

68%

2022

Definition

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Story Behind the Curve

Last Updated: March 14, 2023

Author: Office of Oral Health, Vermont Department of Health

The percentage of adult Vermonters using the dental system yearly has decreased since 2018 but remains above the national average. Longstanding oral health disparities exist in Vermont and nationally. For example, adults with more education or higher incomes are more likely to have accessed dental care in the past year than those with less education or lower income; White, non-Hispanic adults and adults with no disability are more likely to have seen a dentist in the past year compared to BIPOC adults and those without a disability.

In Vermont, the adult Medicaid program covers dental care, increasing the percentage of adults with dental benefits. In January 2020, the annual limit for the benefit increased from $510 to $1,000 per calendar year, and preventive services like cleanings and exams are not subject to the cap; however various pandemic related factors contributed to the decrease in access.

Due to infection control concerns, practices were limited to providing emergency dental care for about two months during the pandemic. Practices also saw increases in the amount of PPE required to treat patients, increasing the cost of providing care. Lastly, infection control concerns contributed to early retirements and dental care providers leaving the profession. These issues have led to a “perfect storm” of long wait times for appointments, fewer practices accepting Medicaid insurance, and workforce shortages throughout the state, all of which affect access to dental care, which may help explain the decrease seen here.

Why Is This Important?

Increasing the percentage of adults who use the dental system yearly is important because people who access dental care regularly have better oral health outcomes than those who do not. Additionally, caregivers who access oral health care are more likely to access oral health care for their children than those who do not.

Partners

What Works

Although it is important to have adequate dental insurance and a dental office within a reasonable travel distance that accepts your insurance, these do not ensure access to dental care. Other issues like fear, not having time off for work for appointments, cost of dental work that is not covered by insurance, and perceived lack of connection between oral health and overall health can contribute to a person’s ability and desire to access dental care.

Integrating non-restorative dental treatments that are less expensive to provide and do not require needles or drilling can address fear and cost. Bringing dental care to people (e.g., in schools and nursing homes), ensuring people have time off from work for appointments, and integrating oral health messages and services as part of primary medical care are all actions that can increase access to dental care.

Strategy

Strategies to increase access to dental care are included in our State Oral Health Plan.

Notes on Methodology

This question is asked every other year.

Due to BRFSS weighting methodology changes beginning in 2011, comparisons between data collected in 2011 and later and that from 2010 and earlier should be made with caution. Differences between data from 2011 forward and earlier years may be due to methodological changes, rather than changes in opinion or behavior.

Vermont tracks risk behaviors using a telephone survey of adults called the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS). The results are used to plan, support, and evaluate health promotion and disease prevention programs. These are used to track Department of Health goals (e.g. Healthy Vermonters 2020), and many other BRFSS data reports. This question about dental visits is asked every other year.

Since 1990, Vermont, along with the 49 other states, Washington D.C. and U.S. territories, has participated in the BRFSS with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC provides the Vermont Department of Health with funding each year to carry out the survey. Currently, ICF Macro with an office in Burlington, Vermont, is the interviewing contractor for the Vermont BRFSS.

Several thousand Vermonters are randomly and anonymously selected and called annually. An adult (18 or older) in the household is asked a uniform set of questions. The results are weighted to represent the adult population of the state.

Beginning in 2009, Vermont started interviewing adult residents on cellular telephones as well as landline telephones. This change ensures the survey is conducted among a representative sample of Vermont adults and was made due to changing telephone patterns with more households using primarily cellular telephones.

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