Senator Malcolm Augustine (D-Prince George’s County) today presented Senate Bill 150 to the Finance Committee that would mandate comprehensive adult dental coverage in Maryland’s Medicaid program, the health insurance program for the state’s poorest residents. The bill would bring the State of Maryland in line with 47 other states that include adult dental health care in its Medicaid coverage. The states of Alabama and Tennessee also do not offer any Medicaid adult dental coverage. United States Senator Ben Cardin testified in support of the bill and has introduced federal legislation that would require states’ Medicaid programs to provide comprehensive adult dental health care.

Despite important advances in the understanding and treatment of oral diseases and conditions, many people in the U.S. still have chronic oral health problems and lack of access to care, according to a report by the National Institutes of Health. Oral Health in America: Advances and Challenges, is a follow-up to the seminal 2000 Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General.