In an unfortunate statistic: 1 in 4 children in California have not seen a dentist. Here's the teaser quote:
A new study from UCLA researchers has one in four California having never seen a dentist.Source: http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/health/one-in-four-california-kids-ha/ July 8, 2010, Read on July 22, 2010 One in four California kids has never seen a dentist, Original Study Link http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/29/7/1356?ijkey=OR9Zf6tmdgyb2&keytype=ref&siteid=healthaff
There's a lot of illuminating, and heartbreaking findings in the study, published in the journal Health Affairs. There were significant disparities shown between races and whether the family had private insurance or some sort of public insurance such as Medicaid or CHIP:
For instance, 54 percent of privately insured children and 27 percent of publicly insured children had seen the dentist in the past six months, compared to 12 percent of children without dental coverage. (Fairly heroic on the part of the one-in nine uninsured families who managed to get their kids to the dentist.)
Hans Skariah, B.Sc., DMD
Promenade Court Dental Health Group in Mississauga
2233 Hurontario St., Mississauga, ON, Canada
(1/2 km north of the QEW in the Dome Building)
(905) 273-7100