Montana Report Card on Kids Dental Health Shows an F

Montana gets a failing grade on a new national report card that compares how states are doing in providing dental care to children. The Pew Center on the states based the grades on things like availability of tooth sealants, water fluoridation, Medicaid policies that encourage dentists to treat lower-income children and the number of available dentists. Shelly Gehshan, with Pew, says states need to anticipate the effects of health care reform, which will mean thousands more Montana children will have dental coverage by 2014 and more than five million nationwide will gain coverage.

Gehshan says many grades improved over the past year, even in tough budget times, with states finding it worthwhile to get kids to the dentist regularly, in order to prevent more serious health problems. Montana is one of just a few states that slipped.

The report says Montana’s low rate of Medicaid children receiving care and lack of dental sealant programs through schools contributes to its failing grade. In the Pew report, about half of the states earned "A" or "B" grades.