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Medicare is one of, if the the most, important federal programs our government manages, but it's omission of dental coverage is potentially having the adverse effect of making the program more expensive to administer. It may appear counterintuitive to suggest that the government could actually save money by expanding benefits, but it's not as crazy as it sounds.
Poor dental health can lead to a whole host of general medical problems that you may not have otherwise had if you received regular dental care. A growing body of researchers have begun to conclude that inflammation in your mouth is linked to a greater risk of a myriad of health problems, including heart attacks, dementia, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. All of those conditions are covered by Medicare, but also happen to be exponentially more expensive to treat than general dentistry procedures.
It's true that it would not be cheap to enact this new benefit, but it's also true that we're already spending tens of billions of dollars a year on reactionary medicine that may have been prevented if a senior had dental coverage provided for.