With Michigan’s Medicaid cuts, state faces ‘devastating’ dental crisis

A man on Vernor Avenue in Detroit with serious dental problems. (Creative Commons photo by g. s. george via Flickr)

GRAND RAPIDS — While thousands of Michigan Medicaid recipients suffer with toothaches or wait weeks for dental services, Democratic leaders warn the state’s social pain may just be beginning.

“Do we want to have more cuts or do we want more revenue?” state Rep. Mary Valentine, chairwoman of the House Families and Children’s Services Committee, said in an interview.

“If we want more cuts, this is what it looks like,” the Democrat from Norton Shores said. “It is going to be devastating.”

On July 1, Michigan eliminated basic Medicaid dental benefits for adults 21 and older, a measure that will save the state about $5 million in 2010. The state has 1.6 million people enrolled in Medicaid.

Since then, clinics have been flooded with calls from patients desperate for help. They are not staffed to meet demand.

Valentine said her office has been getting postcards “that are pictures of people’s mouths and what they look like. We are down to where it really hurts.”

The reports come as budget negotiations continue between Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Republican leaders over how to fill a projected $1.8 billion deficit in the 2010 budget. The dental cuts are a fraction of that deficit, but they are a reminder of what could be at stake as Republicans vow to hold the line on taxes.

In 2003, in the midst of a previous budget crisis, Michigan eliminated Medicaid dental services only to restore them in 2005.

A study by Health Management Associates, in cooperation with the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, found the first six months following the 2003 cuts, oral health-related visits to the emergency room increased 11 percent when compared to the same six-month period the previous year.

At a free dental clinic in Grand Rapids, clinic coordinator Doreen Sturgis expects more of the same this time around.

“You will see a lot more people at the emergency room with mouth problems. It’s going to get horribly bogged down.”

Sturgis said the clinic run by Mel Trotter Ministries in downtown Grand Rapids has seen a “dramatic increase” in calls from Medicaid patients desperate for help.

“They are saying, ‘Where do I go now?’” Sturgis said. “What’s out there for them?”

Sturgis said the clinic, which relies on volunteer help, is unable to meet the demand.

“The person at the other end of the line is in pain. You can tell they are in pain.”

Another Grand Rapids dental clinic for the poor said the number of walk-in patients has doubled.

Because Medicaid will pay for tooth extractions but not restorative work, Cathy Ortman, manager of Ferguson Dental Clinic, said many patients are opting to have the tooth pulled.

“You are going to see a lot more people with no teeth. They are pulling a tooth they could have saved. They are going to opt for what’s free,” Ortman said.

Ortman noted that numerous studies confirm a link between periodontal disease and heart attacks and stroke.

“We do have a crisis,” Ortman said.