Georgia meets five of the eight policy benchmarks aimed at addressing children’s dental health needs, one more than it met in 2010. The state now reimburses medical care providers for preventive dental health services such as fluoride varnish.

Georgia is still a leader in community water fluoridation, being one of seven states providing fluoridated water to over 95 percent of its residents on public systems. Georgia nearly met the benchmark for Medicaid payments to dentists as a percentage of dentists’ median retail fees last year (59.9 percent), but the state fell 8 percentage points further from that benchmark this year.