ADA takes issue with NY Times report on access problem

After spending a solid hour talking with New York Times reporter Alex Berenson about dental care access and the use of “dental therapists” in Alaska, ADA President Mark J. Feldman was “surprised and disappointed” by how little of what he said turned up in print.

Mr. Berenson’s report, headlined “Dental Clinics, Meeting a Need With No Dentist,” appeared on the Times’ front page April 28.

“There’s a lot more to the story” of improving access to dental care, Dr. Feldman said in a letter e-mailed to the Times’ editor shortly after the article appeared. The letter was published in the May 6 edition of the Times. (Read the full text of the letter.)

“Whether it’s Alaska Natives living in remote, Arctic communities, residents of other rural areas, nursing homes or other institutions, or people in the cities and suburbs who simply can’t afford care, too many Americans suffer from untreated dental disease,” wrote Dr. Feldman.

“Our advocacy to state and federal lawmakers and others to craft safe, responsible solutions to access problems has met with increasing success over the past decade. But much more needs to be done.”

Unfortunately, the ADA president noted, some “well-intentioned advocates” for improving access have experimented with non-dentists, “who have considerably less training than dentists,” performing complex surgical procedures.

“The Times mischaracterizes our opposition to these experiments as being somehow financial self-interest,” wrote Dr. Feldman. “This is incorrect. We simply don’t want people exposed to complex surgical procedures performed by people who are not trained to cope with unforeseen complications. And we work every day to find safer, better solutions.”

The ADA president called for adequately funded Medicaid dental programs, as well as student loan repayments and other incentives to help fill vacancies in public health programs like the Indian Health Service.

“It may be easy to relegate people who live far away or are poor and whose lives are different from ours to a different system of care. But it isn’t right or necessary,” Dr. Feldman told the Times. “The ADA and our members are committed to finding real solutions to improving access to oral health care, solutions that don’t needlessly shortchange the most vulnerable Americans.”