Kentucky's bad dental history creates expensive problems.

2004 FEB 23 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Kentucky's woeful dental health leads to greater overall health problems, especially among the state's poorest residents, dentists say.

New federal statistics show that more than 42% of Kentuckians 65 and older have lost all their permanent teeth. That's about 213,000 people.

"The underlying reality is that Kentucky's population, particularly the poor part of its population, is really ill," said James Cecil, a University of Kentucky dentistry professor who serves as administrator of oral health for the state's Health Services Cabinet.

A November 2003 report by the group Kentucky Youth Advocates showed that two-thirds of Kentucky children eligible for dental services for the poor didn't receive them.

Cecil and other experts told The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky, that poor oral health is hurting Kentucky economically just as much as heart disease, obesity, or diabetes.

Preventive dental care for a child's first 6 years of life costs $200 to $250, but if the teeth are neglected and become diseased, a hospital stay and surgery cost $5,000, which in many cases is paid by the tax-funded Medicaid program, Cecil said.

Because it involves pain, inflammation, and the spread of germs throughout the body, dental disease also worsens heart disease, diabetes, and other major problems that boost the state's healthcare burden, he said.