ADA News
Dental coalition calls for investment in dental futures
Washington—A 14-member dental coalition strongly urged the Obama administration and congressional appropriators to invest 10 percent of $1.2 billion authorized by the health reform law in dental futures.
"As you begin implementing sections 4102 and 5303 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, our organizations strongly urge you to allocate at least $93 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's division of oral health for FY 2011 and $30 million to the Health Resources and Services Administration for FY 2011," the dental groups said in a May 25 letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
"These allocations would enable federal dental programs to begin carrying out needed prevention and dental education programs in the PPACA."
The health reform law authorized some $1.2 billion in disease prevention and wellness funding, and the dental groups offered line-item recommendations for $123 million of it, including proposed expenditures for dental training, early childhood tooth decay, epidemiologic studies, community water fluoridation, school sealant programs and other dental activities.
The 14 groups sent similar letters to bipartisan Appropriations Committee leaders as the House began drafting a health and education appropriation for fiscal year 2011 and to Senate appropriators.
The letters were signed by the Academy of General Dentistry, American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, American Academy of Periodontology, American Association for Dental Research, American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, American Association of Orthodontists, American Association of Public Health Dentistry, American College of Prosthodontists, American Dental Association, American Dental Education Association, Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors, Hispanic Dental Association and National Dental Association.
