The Lion's Pride Volume 9 (January 2018) | Page 50

Oral Health Outcomes and Access: A Study of the US Dental Health System Alanna Lachowsky I am currently a student who is pursuing a career in Dental Hygiene. I have been in the dental field for 4 years and have learned a tremendous amount about healthcare, which was the inspiration to this research piece. Everyone will need medical and dental care in the course of their life. So, physical and mental medical benefits affect everyone regardless of economic status, skin color or age, or even existing physical or mental conditions. Given the structure of the medical industry in the US, where insurance and pharmaceutical companies benefit the most because of the high cost of medicinal drugs, treatments, and procedures, having adequate medical insurance is crucial to people’s quality of life. From regular checkups to ongoing treatment to emergency procedures, maintaining personal health can be very expensive and time consuming. Especially vulnerable groups include children, minorities, the disabled, and the elderly. Balancing personal finances and personal health is a source of great stress for everyone in the US who isn’t comfortably wealthy or otherwise extravagantly rich. The decisions everyday people face when confronted with treatment plans that can be relatively expensive for their financial situations have very serious consequences for their health and quality of life. This paper explores recent research around dental health outcomes in the US and argues that there are