On March 1, 2015, the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) handed down a new decree: "Medicaid will not pay for composite restorations in the molar teeth regardless of whether the [dental] practice markets itself as 'amalgam free'". It tells dentists, "If your office cannot provide amalgam services, please have your patients call the Connecticut Dental Health Partnership (CTDHP) (1-855-CT-DENTAL) to locate a new dental home."
With almost half of all dentists now practicing mercury-free dentistry, low-income families in Connecticut now have less access to dental care than ever... and it gets worse. As a recent op-ed explains, “By segregating Medicaid patients from access to mercury-free dentists, DSS creates a separate-but-equal system of dentistry. As thinking Americans know, separate-but-equal was never equal in the Jim Crow days, and it is not equal today.”
How you can help!
Consumers for Dental Choice has teamed with Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice to challenge this injustice.
Are you from Connecticut and want to help stop mandatory mercury fillings for Medicaid consumers? Contact Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice at 860-548-1133 or ccej@environmental-justice.org.