Pediatric dental care, which has long been a concern of children's health advocates, would get a major boost from each of the pending national health overhaul proposals, as all call for expanding coverage.

"The silver lining of all this heated debate, for children at least, is that in almost every conversation, in every version of a bill, there's some provision for children's oral health," said Amir Moursi, chair of the department of pediatric dentistry at New York University's College of Dentistry.