Children's Dental Health: Louisiana

Louisiana meets three of the eight benchmarks aimed at addressing children's dental health needs, one more than it achieved in 2010. The state surpassed the threshold for providing dental services to Medicaid-enrolled children and submitted basic screening data for the first time to the National Oral Health Surveillance System. However, Louisiana's Medicaid payment rates slid relative to dentists' usual fees.

The state also suffered a dramatic decline in the percentage of residents receiving fluoridated water between 2006 and 2008, from 40 to 28 percent as the population of New Orleans—which has a fluoridated water system—dropped significantly after Hurricane Katrina.