For Immediate Release
Barriers to Dental Care in a Medicaid Population of Reproductive-Aged Women
Contact: Kathryn Ryan
914-740-2250
kryan@liebertpub.com
New Rochelle, NY, November 16, 2021—In a new study, only 47% of women had a dental visit during pregnancy. Medicaid-enrolled women in Virginia were half as likely to visit the dentist during pregnancy than women with private insurance, despite the availability of Medicaid Pregnancy Dental coverage, according to the study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Women’s Health. Click here to read the article now.
Shillpa Naavaal, MPH, School of Dentistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, and colleagues, coauthored the study, which explored differences in pregnancy-related oral health knowledge and barriers to dental care among reproductive-aged women by health insurance type. The study also estimated the awareness of the available Medicaid Pregnancy Dental coverage among Medicaid-enrolled women. The investigators found that one in three reproductive-aged women enrolled in Medicaid were unaware of the available pregnancy dental coverage in Virginia.
“Medicaid-enrolled and uninsured women experience barriers to accessing oral health during pregnancy at a much higher rate compared to those with private insurance,” concluded the investigators. “This study’s findings are timely and valuable as Virginia plans to expand comprehensive dental coverage to all Medicaid-enrolled adults beginning July 2021.”
“The authors found that almost 40% of Medicaid-enrolled women did not know that pregnancy is a period of higher risk for oral health problems. It is important to increase awareness of Medicaid Pregnancy Dental coverage and reduce barriers to dental care for reproductive-aged women,” says Journal of Women’s Health Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women’s Health, Richmond, VA.
About the Journal
Journal of Women’s Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. Led by Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women’s Health, Richmond, VA, the Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women’s healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women’s Health website. Journal of Women’s Health is the official journal of the Society for Women’s Health Research.
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research. A complete list of the firm’s 90 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.