A new report from the Pew Center on the States revealed North Dakota and Minnesota to be among the two-thirds of the states failing to ensure that disadvantaged children have an access to dental health care they need

The Pew study discovered that 17 million children from low-income families lack access to dental care, resulting to lost school time, inadequate nutrition and diminished future job prospects.

“Yet millions of low-income children — one out of five children overall — cannot get access to care. The problems resulting from a ‘simple cavity’ can “snowball well into adulthood” and waste resources on expensive treatments, the reports’ authors state.

Dr. Steve Erlandson, a Grand Forks dentist and president-elect of the North Dakota Dental Association, posted that an access problem persists for disadvantaged children in the state only because of low reimbursement rates.

The state medical assistance program reimburses dentists about 55 percent of what are considered standard fees, about 20 percent less than what the dentists need to break even.