In the News

Pennsylvania is currently grappling with a significant and growing dental crisis, especially in its more rural areas. A shortage of dentists, hygienists and dental assistants across the state is disrupting access to the critical dental care many residents need to be their healthiest. Read the full article...

Utah stopped public water fluoridation in May 2025. While the health effects aren't immediate, dentists and oral health advocates aren't waiting for the cavities to pile up. Read the full article...

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy has maintained that the target of his war on fluoride is ingested fluoride — specifically that from fluoridated drinking water and oral supplements. But the misinformed policy efforts to ban community water fluoridation and restrict access to fluoride supplements are having spillover...

The CareQuest Institute for Oral Health appointed Dr. An Nguyen, MPH, as its new chief clinical officer. As a member of the executive leadership team, Nguyen will work closely with the CEO to further clinical strategy and advance the organization’s mission to build a more accessible, equitable, and integrated oral health system. Read the full...

The Trump administration’s proposal to block states from establishing adult dental services as an essential health benefit under the Affordable Care Act is prompting support from insurers and pushback from public interest groups. Read the full article...

Oral health refers to the condition of the mouth, teeth, gums and oral-facial system. While it affects the ability to eat, speak and smile, it is also closely linked to overall health — a connection that was not always widely understood. According to the American Dental Association, the idea that oral bacteria could cause disease has been...

Minimally invasive caries management is moving beyond fluoride varnish, with emerging diagnostics and therapies enabling earlier detection, enamel fortification, and more predictable disease arrest in high-risk patients, which also drives practice production. Read the full article...

The recent announcement that Central Alabama Water (“CAW”) will cease adding fluoride to our drinking water is both shocking and concerning. Even more troubling than the decision itself is the lack of notice, transparency, and process by which it was made. Read the full article...

CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, a nonprofit which advocates for fluoridation, used Medicaid claims data and survey responses to predict the outcomes if the five states — Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri and Oklahoma — stopped adding fluoride to water systems. Florida has already banned it; the other states have legislation in the...

Policy plays a critical role in expanding access to oral health care. At CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, that work is a key part of the organization’s mission to improve oral health. Melissa Burroughs, the institute’s senior director of public policy, spoke with Dental Bite about the biggest issues shaping oral health policy in 2026. Read...

Children are increasingly visiting hospital emergency departments nationwide for dental issues amid shrinking access to pediatric dental care, KFF Health News reported March 10. Five notes: 1. ED visits for dental issues unrelated to physical trauma increased by 57.9% among children 14 and under, according to a 2025 report from CareQuest...

Eight-year-old Jonah woke up one May morning with a swollen face and a toothache. He refused the pain medication that his mom, Geneva Reynolds, tried to give him. He didn’t sleep or eat and cried constantly. Within a few days, Reynolds became so desperate that she and her husband had to physically restrain Jonah, dumping pain medication down...