Pew’s Children’s Dental Campaign promotes cost-effective policies to expand access to dental care and ensure millions more children receive the basic care they need to grow, learn, and lead healthy lives.
Why Dental Care Matters
Dental care is the greatest unmet need among children. In 2009, more than 16 million low-income children went without care. Tooth decay affects nearly 60 percent of kids. If untreated, the consequences can be painful and disruptive to learning and daily activities. In extreme cases, untreated decay can lead to serious, potentially life-threatening infections.
The Dental Care Policies We Promote
Our research and advocacy efforts focus on four efficient, cost-effective strategies:
- Expanding the number of professionals who can provide high-quality dental care to low-income children;
- Ensuring that Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program work better for kids and for providers so that insurance coverage translates into real care;
- Expanding access to fluoridated water; and
- Increasing sealant programs for kids who need them most.
How We Conduct Our Work
We work with lawmakers; government officials; dental providers; national, state, and local organizations; researchers; and the private sector, targeting states in which policy changes can dramatically improve children’s lives. For example, Pew is working in several states to explore the creation of new types of dental providers—similar to nurse practitioners in the medical field—to work in collaboration with dentists and expand care for underserved kids.
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The LATEST from the Project
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- Media Coverage
- Children's Dental Campaign
The Sun Sentinel: Flordia Earns 'D' in Kids' Dental Health Report
Florida needs to put more teeth in its policies to protect children's dental health, if the results of a new national report by the Pew Children's Dental Campaign is any judge.
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- Opinion
- Children's Dental Campaign
Dr. Bicuspid: A Response to ADA's 'Scientific Study' of Dental Therapists
Opinion: The results of the ADA study published in the January 2013 Journal of the American Dental Association do nothing to discredit the utilization of dental therapists in the workforce in their traditional role of providing care for children in school-based programs. more
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- Media Coverage
- Children's Dental Campaign
USA Today: Dental Therapists Aim to Fill Dental-care Gap
At Maplewood Community Dental Care outside of Minneapolis, dental therapist Megan Meyer regularly fills cavities, extracts primary teeth and puts in crowns and spacers. more
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- Media Coverage
- Children's Dental Campaign
The Deseret News: No Teeth Means No Job
How poor oral health impacts job prospects and why the poor have a hard time getting adequate care. more
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- Opinion
- Children's Dental Campaign
Bangor Daily News: The Promise of a New Type of Dentist
You might not be worried about your access to a dentist’s office if you have private health insurance or can afford to pay for care. But if you’re poor, or if you live in a remote area, the barriers you face make it more likely you and your children will delay getting preventive oral health care until it’s too late. more
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- Media Coverage
- Children's Dental Campaign
ABCNews.com: Dental Care Has Decayed for Low Income Families
Like millions of Americans, Miami resident Claribel Agramonte could not afford dental insurance, so she looked for an inexpensive dentist to fix her 14 year old daughter's broken tooth. A friend recommended Humberto Francisco Perez, an 81 year old "backyard dentist" who said he could do the work on the cheap. Police say Perez left the girl permanently disfigured.
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- Media Coverage
- Children's Dental Campaign
NYT: Sharp Cuts in Dental Coverage for Adults on Medicaid
Banned from tightening Medicaid eligibility in recent years, many states have instead slashed optional benefits for millions of poor adults in the program.
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- Press Release
- Children's Dental Campaign
Dental Problems Affect School Performance
In this video, a teacher and a high school student share their experiences with how dental problems affect the classroom. Community water fluoridation and dental sealants are two of the cost-effective ways for states to prevent decay so children are more likely to stay in school and perform better in class.
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- Report
- Children's Dental Campaign
Expanding the Dental Safety Net
This white paper from the Pew Children's Dental Campaign investigates how the addition of dental therapists to the dental team may expand the capacity of federally qualified health clinics to treat more children.
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- Media Coverage
- Children's Dental Campaign
How to Fix a Broken Dental Safety Net
A trip to the dentist's office may instill a sense of dread, but for the majority Americans, access to care is rarely an issue. For roughly one-third of the population, though, finding a dentist can seem next to impossible.
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