The American Dental Association reveals in a press release their seventh annual "Give Kids a Smile" event successfully provided 465,800 underserved children across the country with free dental care. What an amazing accomplishment! Everyone involved in the event will be seen as a hero to these innocent children and their families. As Children's Dental Health Month comes to a close, I would like to share with you the story of Deamonte Driver.
On February 25, 2007 a then 12 year old Deamonte Driver from Prince George’s County, Md, died from a brain infection. The bacteria from an untreated abscessed molar invaded the child’s brain, ultimately causing his unnecessary death. Reports suggest the Mother of the homeless boy had been unsuccessful locating a dentist that would accept Medicaid. Dental organizations across the country suggest that a simple $80.00 procedure may have prevented his untimely death. Determined to prevent another tragedy similar to that of Deamonte Driver, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) introduced H.R. 462, the Medicaid-SCHIP Dental Benefits Improvement Act of 2009 to improve children’s access to dental care, on January 13, 2009. Congressman Cummings states, in a press release, “Deamonte’s death exposed a huge chasm in our nation’s health coverage for children, and this legislation is critical in ensuring that we bring life from this young man’s death,” adding “There is no excuse for what happened to Deamonte Driver, and the fault lies with every single one of us for letting him slip through the cracks,“ and “It is critical that we move forward and enact these common sense proposals to establish a safety net to catch all of the other Deamontes out there.”
If you or your child is experiencing pain from a toothache, please seek immediate medical attention from your dentist or, if necessary, local hospital emergency room. Remember that even though your child’s baby teeth will eventually fall out, they are still a vital part of their oral health and overall wellbeing.
If you do not currently have a dentist, the American Dental Association has an online tool available to assist you in locating a member dentist in your area. Canadians may visit the Canadian Dental Associations website for similar assistance for locating a dentist in Canada.
Dentists Neglect Poor Kids 364 Days a Year
Most dentists neglect low-income Americans all year, except for one “Give-Kids-A-Smile” day, filled with media events, feel-good stories, and corporate logos. But when the media spotlight goes out, so do the dentists. At the same time, organized dentistry fights hard against any viable group willing to alleviate the US dental health epidemic year-round.
Theoretically, government sponsored dental care, under Medicaid, is free for children living in poverty. Sadly, “nationally, only about 10% of all dentists accept Medicaid patients,” according to a report by the Children’s Defense Fund. And over 108 million Americans lack dental insurance, according to the American Dental Association (ADA). that number is growing daily
Dentists’ income is derived mostly from private insurance and patient’s pockets, says the ADA. Dentists aren’t hurting. Rated among the highest-paying jobs by bizjounrnals.com, the top ten money-making cities for dentists range from Charlotte ($195,540) to Omaha ($176,830).
Meanwhile, 6.5 million children aged 2 through 18 in Medicaid have untreated tooth decay, according to the Government Accounting Office, often forcing them to get hospital emergency care when the decay has spread, the pain is unbearable, costing the taxpayers thousands of dollars to treat. Deamonte Driver died about about two dozen dentists refused to see him.
The logical solution is to require dentists to treat more low-income Americans – either for free, for what Medicaid offers, or on a sliding scale. But dentists don’t like mandates – well for themselves anyway. They do like fluoridation mandates, though. Dentists prefer to treat the water rather than the individual
Dentists didn’t make it on their own. Government subsidizes dental tuition and dental schools and regulates their licenses. Dentists need to give back or allow other viable groups to fill the void.
Dental Health Aide Therapists are currently repairing and pulling teeth in rural Alaska where no dentist would live or work. The American Dental Association and the Alaska Dental Society spent $1 million on a lawsuit trying unsuccessfully to stop them.
Organized dentistry now lobbies against solo-practicing dental hygienists, denturists (false teeth makers) from working directly with the public and Dental Therapists in any other state.
Organized dentistry uses its credentials, political clout and deep pockets filled up with corporate cash to lobby our legislators to pass laws that benefit themselves, including fluoirdation, while an oral health epidemic occurs on their watch. See: http://tinyurl.com/PoliticalClout
Unfortunately, organized dentistry uses GKAS day to convince legislators to give them more money to treat Medicaid patients all through the year instead of really solving the dental access problem.
What is needed is to train Dental Therapists in this country. The ones working in Alaska were trained for two or three years in New Zealand. They drill, fill and pull teeth as effectively as dentists and have been working for decades in developed countries. As a result, children in New Zealand have no unfilled cavities because they are seen in school by Dental Therapists every year. Organized dentistry is at odds with public health dentists on this. The latter favor Dental Therapists. Organized dentistry doesn’t like any group infringing on its lucrative monopoly – even if it means Americans must suffer with dental neglect.
A tragic case Shawn.
Every day people in need of treatment go without care. Occasionally someone pays the ultimate price.
That’s the illusion of our civilized world – that’s it’s civilized for everyone around us. It’s not. Some are barely getting by. Dentistry is a luxury for some.
Will more die like this?
Yes, that’s what’s it’s like in 3rd World countries and America has a growing 3rd World element in its population.
Joe Bulger DDS
Visit my dental blog – Toronto Dentist Smile Blog
It wasn’t all that long ago that death from a tooth infection was a common occurrence. It seems so alarming nowadays, especially involving a young child.