As Congress continues to wrestle with various health care reform proposals, we at Delta Dental believe that dental coverage should be included -- but in a way that capitalizes on a private market delivery system that operates differently and far more cost-effectively than the medical model. We also believe that taxing employee benefits to pay for health care reform would result in a significant setback to this nation's oral health.

Focus on prevention, specialized expertise
Unlike medical plans that generally focus on treating disease and illness, dental plans emphasize routine preventive care -- before problems become more serious and expensive to treat. In fact, the American Dental Education Association estimates that every $1 of oral health prevention saves $8 to $50 in restorative and emergency services.

Dental plans also involve the management of a different network of doctors, that is, dentists, who agree to provide care below the retail cost of services. These dentists also agree to contractual policies that protect consumers against fraud, abuse and unnecessary and poor quality care. And while specialized expertise saves money, it also can save lives.

Consider the tragic example of Deamonte Driver, a 12-year-old Maryland resident who died in 2007 when bacteria from an abscessed tooth spread to his brain. A subsequent investigation concluded that by including dental with medical benefits under a single Medicaid contract, the state of Maryland was unable to oversee or effectively monitor the ancillary dental program. The state legislature later agreed to require that the dental portion of the state's Medicaid program be managed by a single, dedicated dental benefits carrier.

Remember the mouth
Delta Dental is committed to the idea that every American deserves quality dental care, and that we should build on what's already working well. Dental benefits are cost-effective because early intervention reduces treatment costs. Dental premiums average less than a tenth of the cost of medical on average, and the trend for inflation is far more stable than with medical.

Taxing employer-paid benefits -- and dental benefits specifically -- could significantly erode our progress toward achieving better oral health over the last few decades. If health benefits were taxed or "capped," as some in Congress propose, millions of Americans would be tempted to drop their dental coverage. This would undermine the good oral health so many Americans currently enjoy, and create added barriers for those whom health care reform is intended to help.

As long as good oral health gives us the ability to talk about health care reform, Delta Dental encourages your readers -- and our national leaders -- to remember the mouth, and to give it the special attention it deserves.