I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4821

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants

to the States with respect to dental health programs for children.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 11, 2000

Mrs. CAPPS (for herself, Mr. NORWOOD, Ms. CARSON, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́

,

Mr. FROST, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr.

BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. UPTON, Mr.

BAIRD, Ms. DANNER, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Ms. LEE,

Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. WYNN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms.

MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. GONZALEZ, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. HASTINGS

of Florida, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. DAVIS of

Illinois, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. PASTOR, and Mr. HOYER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services

to make grants to the States with respect to dental

health programs for children.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Children’s Dental

5 Health Preservation Act of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress finds as follows:

3 (1) Dental disease in very young children is a

4 significant public health problem affecting nearly

5 one in five children.

6 (2) Children from low income families are much

7 more likely to experience dental and oral disease.

8 (3) Children from rural areas are much more

9 likely to experience difficulties in obtaining adequate

10 access to oral health care.

11 (4) Most oral and dental diseases of pre-school

12 children could be prevented or more effectively man13 aged with an increased focus on their oral health.

14 (5) Significant numbers of pre-school children

15 have inadequate oral health prevention available to

16 them or they are unable to access existing programs.

17 (6) Public health prevention methods and oral

18 health promotion programs have been successful in

19 some States, but there are few if any successful

20 comprehensive national oral health preventive and/or

21 health programs.

22 (7) Use of screening, triage, health promotion,

23 targeted disease prevention and disease management

24 can limit or prevent most common oral and dental

25 disease.
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1 (8) Pre-school children who experience early

2 dental disease are susceptible to painful symptoms,

3 and are at a much higher risk for recurring dental

4 diseases throughout life.

5 SEC. 3. DENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN.

6 The Secretary of Health and Human Services (re7 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’), acting

8 through the Administrator of the Health Resources and

9 Services Administration, shall make grants to States for

10 the purpose of—

11 (1) identifying children eligible for Federal pro12 grams at risk of developing dental caries and for

13 provision of preventative and therapeutic services in

14 accordance with State practice acts to reduce oral

15 disease occurrence; and

16 (2) training of health care professionals to edu17 cate parents on oral disease prevention.

Æ