Association Lobbies For Dental Benefits

The Delta Dental Plans Association is promoting the importance of including dental benefits in health reform efforts.

The association, which represents a group of 39 dental plans, is trying to reach lawmakers and other policymakers by setting up an educational Web site at http://www.advanceoralhealth.com/

“More than 130 million Americans lack dental benefits coverage,” says Janis Oshensky, a vice president at the Delta Dental Plans Association, Oak Brook, Ill. “As a result, they are nearly half as likely to visit a dentist at least once annually as those with coverage. This endangers not only their oral health, but as studies increasingly show it endangers their overall health as well.”