United States
In the United States dentistry is generally practiced by dentists who have completed a post-graduate course of professional education. With exception of rural Alaska, Dental therapists are not permitted to practice in the United States. Use of dental therapists, dental health aids, or dental hygienists to independently perform routine fillings or cleaning is strongly opposed by the American Dental Association, (the A.D.A.), the dentists' professional association. This has resulted in excellent but high-priced treatment which, however, fails to delivers services at a reasonable price to the lower social classes. With only a few exceptions, neither government-sponsored health care programs such as Medicare nor Medicaid cover routine dental treatment. As a result large sections of the population do without. The worst conditions are in Kentucky and West Virginia.
Rates for dental services have been rising rapidly, out pacing the rate of inflation. After falling for many years, the percentage of both adults and children with unfilled cavities began to rise in 2000 as did the percentage of adults with no teeth. Increasingly, people with adequate income to pay the fees are forgoing treatment.
Read more about this topic: Dentistry Throughout The World
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