Impact of Dental Medicaid Expansion on Oral and Overall Health in West Virginia

Aaliyah Williams* and Fotinos Panagakos

School of Dentistry, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26505

Presentation Category: Biological & Biochemical Sciences (Poster Presentation #105)

Student’s Major: Biology

Oral health is central to overall health and well-being. In West Virginia many residents face suboptimal oral health outcomes. Approximately 300000 state residents rely on Medicaid to get dental services, but its coverage only allows recipients to obtain emergency dental services. This has led to statewide issues such as increased opioid usage and overexertion of emergency medical services. In 2020, the Governor of West Virginia signed a bill into law to give citizens access to a limited adult benefit through Medicaid (SB648). The bill allows adult Medicaid recipients to have a $1000 yearly maximum benefit on diagnostic, preventative, and restorative dental services. This study was conducted to examine the level and type of care the WVU School of Dentistry provided to Medicaid patients prior to the program initiation. This was accomplished by reviewing patient records of those who obtained emergency dental services at WVU School of Dentistry from the years 2017-2020. Simultaneously we conducted a survey to assess the current need for adult care among Medicaid patients who present for emergency treatment starting in January 2021. This will allow us to review pre-existing dental care needs of recipients and possibly estimate the utilization level of the new program. We expect to see a decrease in emergency service usage for dental issues, as well as increases in the amount of preventative and restorative care visits among this population. It is also possible that the benefit amount is not large enough to allow Medicaid recipients to get the care that they need.

Funding:

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course