More Millennials Seeking Preventative Care

Researchers attribute increase in millennials seeking preventative dental care to ACA provisions.

It’s not unusual for young people to neglect preventative dental care and routine health exams. While many forgo these services out of a desire to save time and money, there is also an assumption of invincibility behind the decision not to keep up with preventative care. They feel young and healthy and can’t imagine anything bad coming of the decision to skip preventative care.

Recently, researchers from the University of California San Francisco investigated how the habits of these “young invincibles” as they called them have been affected by the Affordable Care Act. Specifically, researchers were interested in how the ACA provision allowing young adults to remain covered by their parents’ insurance up to age 26 was affecting compliance with preventative service recommendations.

The researchers compared data on young adults age 18 to 25 gathered from 2009 and 2011 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys. They found that following the passage of the ACA, 50 percent of young adults had full-year private insurance coverage, compared to 43 percent in 2009.

Researchers also discovered that young adults are using their preventative care coverage more:

• 48 percent got a routine health exam in 2011 compared to 44 percent in 2009
• 68 percent got a blood pressure screening in 2011 compared to 65 percent in 2009
• 29 percent got a cholesterol screening in 2011 compared to 24 percent in 2009
• 61 percent had an annual dental cleaning & exam in 2011 compared to 55 percent in 2009

While these numbers are encouraging, we would like to see more progress so that all young adults—as well as kids, teens, and older adults—receive at least one annual dental visit.

Why Everyone Needs an Annual Dental Cleaning & Exam

While one might argue that preventative services like blood pressure and cholesterol screenings are not necessarily needed by young, healthy individuals, everyone needs routine dental care. After all, dental caries and gum disease can affect anyone at any age. Considering that gum disease and tooth decay, are the top causes of tooth loss in American adults, it is naturally important to fight these common dental problems consistently throughout your lifetime in order to increase the chances of preserving a full set of healthy, beautiful teeth well into old age.

Remember, how you treat your teeth now will have a major impact on your quality of life later on! Schedule your routine cleaning and exam at California Dental Group today for protection against tooth decay and gum disease and early detection of oral cancer and other issues.