For many people, regular visits to the dentist are little more than a necessary inconvenience. But in lower-income communities, access to dental care can be all but nonexistent - with serious consequences for public health. Professor Donald Chi lays out how a single childhood cavity can lead to a lifetime of problems, why so many people struggle to access even basic dental care, and what policymakers can do to provide every American with the coverage they need.

For more on this topic:

• Check out Chi's SSN brief, Why Inadequate Dental Care Leads to Escalating Health Problems for Low-Income Americans
• Read Pew's summary of his research on dental therapists
• Find Mary Otto's article in The Washington Post on Deamonte Driver