Large increase in Medicaid dental access for children across states
From 2000 to 2013, the percent of children covered by Medicaid with a dental visit grew in every state, according to a report by the American Dental Association. Still just under half of American children covered by Medicaid visited a dentist in 2013. Among all states, in 2013 children in Connecticut’s program were the most likely to have had a dental visit at 64%. Children in Maryland saw the greatest increase in access to dental care rising 46 points between 2000 and 2013, despite only one in four Maryland dentists participating in the program. Vermont saw the greatest rise in private dental plan charges from 2003 to 2013, while dental plan costs dropped significantly in Rhode Island for both adults and children over that decade. Half of the top ten states in dentists per population are in the Eastern Region.
| Children covered by Medicaid with dental visit in last year (2013) | Dentists participating in Medicaid for children (2014) | Dentists per 100,000 population (2013) | |
| Connecticut | 64% | 46% | 76.2 |
| Delaware | 49% | 55% | 45.4 |
| Maine | 43% | 42% | 52.2 |
| Maryland | 58% | 25% | 71.9 |
| Massachusetts | 58% | 39% | 78.0 |
| New Hampshire | 60% | 45% | 64.0 |
| New Jersey | 50% | 24% | 81.2 |
| New York | 43% | 38% | 73.5 |
| Pennsylvania | 45% | 68% | 60.2 |
| Rhode Island | 47% | 45% | 53.7 |
| Vermont | 60% | 76% | 58.2 |
| US average | 48% | 42% | 60.5 |
