Some 4.3 million U.S. children did not get needed dental care in 2010 because their families could not afford it, according to an ADA News report.
The number represents 7% of U.S. children younger than 18 and includes those not in an institution, according to the Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2010.
The survey is conducted annually for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.
Some 26% were uninsured children who were more than six times as likely to have unmet dental need as children with private health insurance (4%) and more than four times as likely as children with Medicaid or other public coverage (6%), the 2010 survey found.
Some 33% of uninsured children had not seen a dental professional for more than two years, including those who never had a contact, compared with 12% of children with Medicaid and 12% of children with private insurance.
Non-Hispanic white children were more likely to have had a dental contact in the past six months (67%) than non-Hispanic black (55%) or Hispanic (57%) children. Children with single mothers were
