{"id":31585,"date":"2024-06-17T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/06\/17\/a-dental-debacle-why-veterans-struggle-to-navigate-vas-oral-care\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:30:00","slug":"a-dental-debacle-why-veterans-struggle-to-navigate-vas-oral-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/fedlife\/2024\/06\/17\/a-dental-debacle-why-veterans-struggle-to-navigate-vas-oral-care\/","title":{"rendered":"A dental debacle: Why veterans struggle to navigate VA\u2019s oral care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marine Corps veteran Jeremy Williams was humiliated last summer when his front six teeth fell out of his mouth in the middle of a business meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost a year later, he\u2019s infuriated that he still can\u2019t get his Veterans Affairs<\/a> health insurance to correct the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt sucks,\u201d the 42-year-old said. \u201cI don\u2019t smile as much anymore, because I\u2019ve got no teeth to show. I don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to bite into a steak or a burger without having to cut it into little pieces. Right now, I have to cut my food up like I did for my kids when they were three and four.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williams\u2019 dental<\/a> problems stem from an injury he suffered in 2006 during a roadside bomb attack in Ramadi, Iraq. The blast threw him face-first into his weapon mount, cracking the upper bones in his mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But despite what would seem to be an obvious service-connected injury, Williams has spent most of the last 22 years adrift in the VA health care system<\/a>, forking over tens of thousands of his own money to cover an array of dental problems stemming from the injury. And for the last 10 months, he\u2019s been trying to figure out how to get the VA to pay<\/a> for surgery to put his front teeth back into his mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so frustrating because if I was missing a limb from war, I know I\u2019d be able to get a prosthetic right away,\u201d he said. \u201cVA is good at that. But dental stuff doesn\u2019t work that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advocates say those shortcomings in VA dental coverage are a common complaint among veterans, both those with minor and serious injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not really an issue of … denied claims, because for the most part, dental care is just not really available to veterans,\u201d said Patrick Murray, director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars\u2019 National Legislative Service. \u201cBut if they could get it and use it, it would save money in veterans\u2019 care down the line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VA leaders say they are working to improve the system<\/a> 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, thanks to recent changes in VA health care<\/a> eligibility rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether the staff additions will be enough to keep up with demand \u2014 and address ongoing shortfalls in the system \u2014 remains unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who gets VA dental care?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The primary complaints regarding VA dental care usually focus on eligibility or accessibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generally, to be eligible for department dental coverage, veterans must have a service-connected disability specifically related to their teeth or mouth, or be rated 100% disabled because of other service injuries. Individuals can be eligible in other circumstances, but most of those situations provide only temporary or partial dental help.<\/p>\n\n\n\t