Shortcomings in Veterans Affairs (VA) dental coverage are a common complaint among veterans, both those with minor and serious injuries, Military Times reports. Most complaints about VA dental care usually focus on eligibility or accessibility. VA leaders say they are seeking to improve the system and have added hundreds more dental workers in the last year. But officials also anticipate hundreds of thousands more individuals will be added to dental care programs over the next few years because of recent changes in VA health care eligibility rules. In a report published earlier this year, researchers from the American Institute of Dental Public Health and CareQuest Institute identified higher rates of dental problems among veterans than civilians, including issues with tooth decay (56% among veterans versus 37% in the general population) and gum disease (42% versus 27%).
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