[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14871]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  IN SUPPORT OF FUNDING FOR THE ORAL HEALTH CARE PROVISIONS IN HEALTH 
                              CARE REFORM

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE QUIGLEY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 20, 2012

  Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because we can no longer 
afford to treat oral health as separate from general health.
  The mouth is a part of the body, and dental care must be part of 
comprehensive care. Oral diseases and disorders can cause severe pain, 
malnutrition, and even death if left untreated.
  But because oral care has long been excluded from comprehensive care, 
thousands of families and children are left without dental care. 
Twenty-two percent of all out-of-pocket spending in the U.S. is spent 
on dental care, and dental decay is the most common chronic childhood 
disease.
  Our workforce loses 164 million work hours each year due to dental 
problems, and close to half of military recruits in 2008 were 
ineligible for deployment due to dental issues.
  This is unacceptable. We can, and must, do better than this.
  We must preserve funding for the Maternal and Child Health Block 
Grant, and fully fund the many oral health care provisions in Health 
Care Reform. The mouth is part of the body, and must be treated as 
such.

                          ____________________