Graphic of the week: Ohio lags in preventive oral healthcare for kids

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Data included in HPIO’s 2026 Health Value Dashboard shows that while Ohio currently performs well on access to care overall, Ohio ranks near the bottom of states on preventive dental care for children, and considerable disparities exist.
 
The Dashboard found that Ohio ranks 48th compared to other states and D.C. on child preventive dental care, meaning the state ranks worse than all but 3 states. Dashboard data also shows that children in families earning less than 100% of the federal poverty level are much less likely to receive preventive care compared to those in families with high incomes, as illustrated above.
 
Without regular access to dental care, Ohio also has higher rates of emergency department visits related to cavities among children compared to other states.
 
Access to care continues to be Ohio’s best ranked domain in the Health Value Dashboard. Although Ohio ranks near the top of states (8th) on measures of coverage and affordability, increasing costs of healthcare and anticipated reductions in insurance coverage because of recent federal policy changes threaten the state’s gains in these areas. 
 
The Health Value Dashboard is a collection of tools and resources that compare Ohio’s performance to all other states on a wide range of measures of population health, healthcare spending and the factors that influence health, including:

• Access to care
• The healthcare system
• Public health and prevention
• The social and economic environment
• The physical environment