Enter your email to receive the CareQuest newsletter:
September 28, 2021
A 72-year-old woman went in for surgery to remove a brain tumor in 2019. The last thing she remembers before her surgery was a doctor putting her to sleep. When she awoke, she was missing her dentures, her glasses, and had no memory of how she got home.
Shortly after, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and for a year thereafter she had no teeth or glasses.
Most seniors are surprised to learn that when they retire and begin to rely on Medicare for their health coverage, they are left without oral health care. In fact, of the 60 million Medicare beneficiaries, more than two-thirds don’t have any dental coverage at all. Medicare doesn’t cover vision or hearing health services either. Nearly half of all Medicare patients haven’t visited a dentist within the past year. Those numbers are closer to 70 percent for Black, Hispanic and lower-income Medicare beneficiaries. One in five rural seniors haven’t seen a dentist in the past five years.