Each day, pediatric dentists see thousands of children suffering from serious tooth decay that have a direct impact on their ability to eat, learn, sleep and live. Ninety percent of the tooth decay is preventable, yet a report released this week by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reveals that one in three Medicaid children has not seen a dentist in over a year.

AAPD President Dr. Beverly A. Largent said, “The GAO report highlights the widespread dental disease that exists in each of our communities. It is my sincere hope that this information will lead to the provision of the access to dental care that is so desperately needed by the pediatric Medicaid population.”

The AAPD believes that each child deserves to see a dentist by her first birthday and build a dental home, something many Medicaid children lack. The AAPD will continue towards its goal, and has partnered with the Office of the Head Start in hopes of connecting over a million Head Start children with dental homes. Many children in the Head Start program are also Medicaid beneficiaries. Testimonies from the hearing, including that from Crall, provide steps to ensure that each child in America receives the same access and quality of care. It is our duty—as legislators, citizens, parents, teachers and dentists—to make certain that no child suffers in pain.  

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Founded in 1947, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) is a not-for-profit membership association representing the specialty of pediatric dentistry. The AAPD’s 7,500 members are primary oral health care providers who offer comprehensive specialty treatment for millions of infants, children, adolescents, and individuals with special health care needs. The AAPD also represents general dentists who treat a significant number of children in their practices. As advocates for children’s oral health, the AAPD develops and promotes evidence-based policies and guidelines, fosters research, contributes to scholarly work concerning pediatric oral health, and educates health care providers, policymakers, and the public on ways to improve children’s oral health. For further information, please visit the AAPD Web site at http://www.aapd.org.

Beverly Largent, D.M.D., became the AAPD’s president on May 25, 2008. She is the first woman president in the AAPD’s history, and has been a member of the AAPD for 20 years. Among many AAPD leadership roles, she previously served as Trustee-at-Large. Largent practices in Paducah, Kentucky, and is a past president of the Kentucky Society of Pediatric Dentistry, past president of the Kentucky Dental Association, diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry and has served on the American Dental Association’s (ADA) Council of Ethics, Bylaws and Judicial Affairs. Largent attended dental school and received her pediatric dental certification from the University of Kentucky. Currently, she is a delegate to the ADA House of Delegates and a Fellow in the American College of Dentists. She resides in Paducah with her husband of 40 years, Tom, and is the mother of two and grandmother of three. 

James J. Crall, D.D.S., Sc.D., is the project director of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s (AAPD) Dental Home Initiative and Professor and Chair of Pediatric Dentistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Crall also served as Director of the MCHB Pediatric Dentistry Leadership Training Center. Prior to moving to UCLA in 2004, he held faculty appointments at Columbia University (2000–2004), the University of Connecticut (1986–2000) and the University of Iowa (1979–1986). As the Child Advocate for the AAPD, Crall was instrumental in securing a five-year, $10 million contract with the Office of Head Start and the AAPD, which aims to provide dental homes for the nearly 1 million children enrolled in Head Start and early Head Start.