County advisory committee reports low dental utilization among Medi‑Cal beneficiaries, highlights Early Smile program

The Sacramento County Managed Dental Advisory Committee presented its annual update to the Board of Supervisors on May 13, reporting low utilization of preventive dental services among Medi‑Cal beneficiaries and outlining local efforts to expand access.

Committee members said roughly 647,000 county beneficiaries are enrolled in Medi‑Cal dental coverage; the county’s dental managed‑care model covers about 614,000 of those. Presenters showed preventive visit rates well below 50 percent for many age groups and described particularly low rates for young children: only about 20 percent of 0–5 year olds had a preventive dental visit in the prior year, the committee said. The committee identified parent education, medical–dental integration and school-based sealant programs as priorities.

First 5 Sacramento and other partners briefed the board on the Early Smile Sacramento school‑based program, which recorded more than 26,000 encounters in 2023 and referred more than 15,000 children for additional dental care; nearly 600 required urgent treatment. The committee recommended continued plan oversight, work on network adequacy, and attention to providers performing general anesthesia procedures for dental surgery.

Committee members said the state chose DentaQuest to replace Access Dental Plan statewide; the committee will monitor the transition and urged county stakeholders to ensure DentaQuest meets local network and access expectations. The board thanked committee members for the briefing and accepted the update for the record.