Why We Need OHCCP

Nearly one third of cancer patients are at risk for oral complications such as mouth sores, oral bleeding, life-threatening infections, increased caries (cavities), periodontal disease, loss of saliva, soft tissue and jaw bone death.

• We need OHCCP because:

  Any of these conditions can compromise vital cancer therapies.



• We need OHCCP because:

  These serious oral complications reduce a cancer patient’s quality of life, cause pain and distress, increase health care costs and increase morbidity.

There is an increasing amount of lower income patients in need of dental care.

• We need OHCCP because:

  Over one third of all Americans lack dental insurance and 32 million people lack access to dental care.

• We need OHCCP because: Although the number of Medicaid patients increases, states “are not mandated” to provide dental care for adults with cancer.

• We need OHCCP because: States that do provide dental Medicaid coverage provide significantly low reimbursement amounts that are often capped at a low annual amount (e.g., Indiana currently caps dental coverage at $600/per yr/per pt).

For each cancer patient to be seen by a dental provider pre, during and post chemotherapy and radiation.

• What is needed is: More oral health care education about how cancer providers and cancer patients can effectively manage a cancer patient’s oral hygiene prior to, during and post cancer therapies so as to reduce serious oral health conditions.

• What is ultimately needed is: Funding to support underserved, uninsured and underinsured cancer patients with their unpaid dental costs in order to increase their access to continuous oral health care services.

We need oral health care for cancer patients.  Find out why.