An interim legislative committee will continue a study of the need for dental services in North Dakota.
Sen. Judy Lee (R-West Fargo) chairs the interim Health Services Committee. She says there sare a number of areas in North Dakota where dental services are lacking.
"Not only on Indian reservations, which is an obvious thing to many of us, but rural areas where few dentists are available," said Lee. "Also, people who are living in skilled care facilities, people with disabilities, small children, refugees -- these are people that need dental care, and find it difficult to get it."
Lee says it isn't that there aren't good professional dentists in the state.
"It's sort of like water," said Lee. "It's a distribution problem."
The chief executive officer of Family Health Care of Fargo says for immigrants, getting dental care is a problem.
Pat Gulbranson says the problem is a lack of insurance coverage from Medicaid.
"As part of Medicaid expansion, adults ages 21 and over do not have dental or vision coverage as part of that Medicaid expansion," said Gulbranson. "In the past, prior to the expansion, they did have dental coverage under traditional Medicaid for the first 8 months while they're in the United States."
Gulbranson told the committee he would like to see Medicaid coverage expanded to include dental and vision coverage. He says Family Health Care has over 200 patients who are affected by this lack of coverage.
