ADA addresses findings of PBS documentary

In response to PBS's June 26 "Frontline" documentary "Dollars and Dentists," the ADA has released a statement expressing hope that examining the state of dental care in U.S. will lead to increased awareness about access-to-care issues.

The ADA also expressed concern that the program's focus on allegations of Medicaid fraud and abuse "may create negative and erroneous impressions about the larger sphere of Medicaid providers."

The ADA expressed its support for dentists who accept Medicaid for break-even or negative revenues and its concern that "a few bad actors" would sully their reputation.

"There are right ways and wrong ways to improve access to dental care in America," the ADA stated. "The right way is to understand that while oral healthcare is essential, the ultimate goal is oral health. The right way is to recognize that there are multiple barriers that impede tens of millions of Americans from attaining optimal oral health, including geography, culture, language, poverty, and, in the larger sense, a societal failure to value oral health. The wrong way is to invest solely in therapist programs that other countries have used for decades, with little appreciable effect on their rates of oral disease."