By WMBD TV
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) — U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin held a press conference in Bloomington to shed light on oral health challenges the region faces.
The conference took place at the Chestnut Family Health Center, where he spoke on issues regarding dental providers not being able to treat medicaid patients.
“24% of the dentists licensed to practice in the state of Illinois actually treat a medicaid patient. Any Medicaid patient. About 14% of the dentists in our state treat one a week. There are very few dentists available for these people, particularly children who need care,” said Durbin.
Durbin also shed light on challenges within pediatric dental work, sharing that some children could wait up to two years to get the oral surgery they need.
“This is a serious problem. We have to make sure that medical care is the very best. But we cannot forget dental care and what it means in terms of overall health for individuals and particularly for children,” Durbin said.
He hopes that the student loan forgiveness program, it can help take some of the weight off of licensed practitioners in the state, who see around $600,000 in debt, in order for there to be more dentists to treat the patients that need it most.
“We can put this package together if we go into dental schools and say we can virtually eliminate your debt, if you provide a certain number of years of service, we can start bringing more professionals on the ground, on the scene,” he said.
Durbin said he will continue to fight to keep the student loan forgiveness program alive.
WMBD TV first reported this story. You can read the original story online at CIProud.com.
