A recent survey has shown that lower income families in Northern Virginia are not getting the dental care (which includes denture care) that they desperately need.
Denture Care
Good denture care is essential; but the survey showed that almost all of the families with a higher income saw a dentist regularly, whereas only a low percentage of low income families had seen a dentist within the last two years.
This lack of dental care for low income households could be due to the lack of dental insurance. They simply can’t afford it, and so they are not getting the care they should.
Dentures prices vary greatly depending on which type of denture is needed. This however does not help those people who can’t afford dental treatment.
The recent survey showed that 20% of people in lower income families need dentures, and only four percent of higher paid families had dentures.
Some types of dentures are only for cosmetic purposes like snap on teeth. These are not covered even if you do have dental insurance.
Same day dentures and cosmetic dentures are among the most expensive type of dentures there are, and only people with a high income will be able to afford them.
Due to the lack of money, people who do not have dental insurance wait until the very last minute to have their dental treatment done in the Emergency Room. This means that more and more people were having teeth removed because they had waited too long.
It is not just lack of insurance that are keeping families from getting dental treatment. For instance, a lot of them do not have the transport to get to the dentist surgery, and others stated they could not get childcare in order for them to visit a dentist.
People on a higher income can afford to pay for good dentures, childcare, and dental insurance, so denture care is not a problem for them.
Denture care is totally different to caring for natural teeth. Denture cleaning is done using a different type of paste which is designed specifically for dentures, or you use tablets and soak your dentures over night. All of this can be expensive for those people who do not have a high income.
It is not just adults who are suffering because they can’t afford dental treatment, their children are also suffering. They are not getting regular checkups which can prevent more serious problems from occurring.
In other parts of America organizations are offering free dental treatment to low income families. This is allowing them to get all the help they need, and to get their teeth problems fixed.
Unfortunately in Northern Virginia this is not the case, and too many people are suffering. But hopefully dentists and other organizations will help lower income families get the dental and denture care that they need.