U.S. 2012 budget includes $14M for oral health programs

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of Fiscal Year 2012 includes $14 million for dentistry and oral health programs administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

U.S. House and Senate committees that finalized the legislation included $32.8 million for the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) training in oral health programs, according to a legislative update by the Academy of General Dentistry. Of this amount, general and pediatric dentistry will each receive $7.56 million.

Also, the CDC has decided to retain the Division of Oral Health.

The new funding will enable the CDC to focus on preventing and eliminating oral disease, support state oral health infrastructure programs, and improve the coordination of oral health activities with other chronic disease prevention activities, according to a statement that accompanied the decision.

The Institute of Medicine issued a report in April that concluded that experiments with expanding the dental workforce should be part of a solution to oral health access, but the ADA and other dental advocacy groups have strenuously opposed funding programs for alternative dental providers. The final spending bill expressly prohibits funding for the alternative dental healthcare provider demonstration projects authorized in the healthcare reform law.