Oral Health Care for Underserved Children in the United States

Dental caries is the most common chronic disease of childhood with approximately 25% of children from low-income families entering kindergarten without ever having seen a dentist (Larsen, Larsen, Handwerker, Kim, & Rosenthal, 2009 Larsen, C. D., Larsen, M. D., Handwerker, L. B., Kim, M. S. and Rosenthal, M. 2009. Journal of School Health, 79: 116–122. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Youth, poverty, and race are characteristics of populations susceptible to oral disease (Dye, Xianfen, & Thorton-Evans, 2012). Services delivering oral health care to underserved populations are referred to as dental safety-net clinics. This article explores the impact of the dental safety-net on improving access to oral health care for underserved children in the United States.