shameful irony in the land of 'plenty'
Headlines on the same day:
Military, civilians join forces to save Iraqi girl:
Group effort takes 5-year-old from a Baghdad ER to a California hospital
For want of a dentist: Maryland boy, 12, dies after bacteria from tooth spread to his brain
Dear Mr. President,
Perhaps you can cooperate in efforts to give the American people the same opportunities you are giving the Iraqis?
Thanks, America.
(Although in fairness, it sounded like the tragedy had as much to do with the nature of poverty as it did about the failures of the bureacracy. The mother claimed:
When [the son who died]got sick, [she] had not realized that his tooth had been bothering him. Instead, she was focusing on his younger brother, 10-year-old [other son with six rotted teeth], who "complains about his teeth all the time," she said.
One wonders if the older son never mentioned his teeth after seeing what an issue it was for his brother to get treated. On the other hand, if his brother was treated, why wasn't he checked also?
The news media claims that an $80 tooth extraction could have saved him, but in the scope of childhood expenses, $80 should not be an insurmountable obstacle. People argue that the government should provide more Medicaid, but isn't the bigger problem that we don't have enough jobs with benefits? That the poor and unskilled can't make a living wage?
(Warning, nawilla rambles:)
On the other hand, as an adult I'm particularly sensitive to the issue. As you know I have had a lot of work done on my teeth (and I have an unfilled cavity on a tooth that needs to be pulled (wisdom tooth) and am not in a position to do that right now. I'm aiming for June when I'm still on crappy health insurance but the thesis mess will be over.) But part of my dental problems do stem from the poor dental care I had as a kid. Dental care was just NOT a priority for my parents, at least for us kids. I visited the dentist all of three times before I went to college. (Note, the second time was a follow up). Now, as an adult, I pay for my own dental services, (and no, I don't currently have dental insurance, but it was the lack of health insurance and work delaying my current procedure.) While the dentist ain't cheap, it's also not outrageously expensive and really should be one of the expected costs that having a child incurs (not to mention having a mouth). Lack of dental insurance should not be a hindrance to regular office visits because a cleaning and check up isn't that much more expensive than the insurance is. The mother claimed her children had "never received routine dental attention" and then she couldn't find a dentist that took medicaid when they needed emergency work. My own dental experience seems to indicate that insurance would not be significantly less expensive than paying the dentist of her choice outright, at least for regular exams. You can't blame the lack of health insurance if she won't buy the basic service at the same cost. And no, I don't have a bargain basement dentist either.
As an adult I see that I wasn't terribly far from this child, even though I lived in a nicer house, and went to a better school and was never eligible for medicaid or homeless. While it's unlikely I would have ever gotten to a life-threatening point before medical intervention, the sheer number of years that I had gum disease (before I was on my own insurance and it became 'my problem') tells me this is not a problem strictly of the poor so much as a problem of living beyond means, no matter how meager those means are. My parents opted to put money into expensive cars, expensive vacations and expensive divorces instead of teeth. Anyone want to count our cavities?
While it's true that I didn't get a dentist until I got my inheritance, even while I was completely unemployed and had too many places to put my savings, I still went to the dentist. My teeth were too much of a priority not to. I know dental care isn't cheap, but these days what is?
Every year we find more and more health consequences to poor oral care. (Even the diabetes epidemic has been linked to mouth bacteria, not the other way around as has been previously thought). Everyone wants to shame the government for not 'providing' (which has merit) and the dentists for not taking in patients they can't afford (which has less merit because the former causes the latter), but they don't really bring up the subject of prevention, which of course lies with the parents. Who makes us brush and floss? (My parents didn't make us nor teach us to floss. They didn't provide floss. I know my dad didn't floss, Mom may have.) Who takes us (or doesn't take us) to the doctor and dentist (do not get me started on my childhood health care or lack thereof)? Yes, we need more care and yes the hoops to jump through need to be simplified, but like so many social ills, it still comes down to responsibility. The article talks about 'for want of a dentist' but misses the point of 'for want of parents with enough foresight to go to the dentist'.
His mother never knew his tooth was bothering him. The $80 extraction could not have saved him because she would have never had his teeth checked anyway. It's not a matter of $80 dollars so much as twelve years without dental care.
Military, civilians join forces to save Iraqi girl:
Group effort takes 5-year-old from a Baghdad ER to a California hospital
For want of a dentist: Maryland boy, 12, dies after bacteria from tooth spread to his brain
Dear Mr. President,
Perhaps you can cooperate in efforts to give the American people the same opportunities you are giving the Iraqis?
Thanks, America.
(Although in fairness, it sounded like the tragedy had as much to do with the nature of poverty as it did about the failures of the bureacracy. The mother claimed:
When [the son who died]got sick, [she] had not realized that his tooth had been bothering him. Instead, she was focusing on his younger brother, 10-year-old [other son with six rotted teeth], who "complains about his teeth all the time," she said.
One wonders if the older son never mentioned his teeth after seeing what an issue it was for his brother to get treated. On the other hand, if his brother was treated, why wasn't he checked also?
The news media claims that an $80 tooth extraction could have saved him, but in the scope of childhood expenses, $80 should not be an insurmountable obstacle. People argue that the government should provide more Medicaid, but isn't the bigger problem that we don't have enough jobs with benefits? That the poor and unskilled can't make a living wage?
(Warning, nawilla rambles:)
On the other hand, as an adult I'm particularly sensitive to the issue. As you know I have had a lot of work done on my teeth (and I have an unfilled cavity on a tooth that needs to be pulled (wisdom tooth) and am not in a position to do that right now. I'm aiming for June when I'm still on crappy health insurance but the thesis mess will be over.) But part of my dental problems do stem from the poor dental care I had as a kid. Dental care was just NOT a priority for my parents, at least for us kids. I visited the dentist all of three times before I went to college. (Note, the second time was a follow up). Now, as an adult, I pay for my own dental services, (and no, I don't currently have dental insurance, but it was the lack of health insurance and work delaying my current procedure.) While the dentist ain't cheap, it's also not outrageously expensive and really should be one of the expected costs that having a child incurs (not to mention having a mouth). Lack of dental insurance should not be a hindrance to regular office visits because a cleaning and check up isn't that much more expensive than the insurance is. The mother claimed her children had "never received routine dental attention" and then she couldn't find a dentist that took medicaid when they needed emergency work. My own dental experience seems to indicate that insurance would not be significantly less expensive than paying the dentist of her choice outright, at least for regular exams. You can't blame the lack of health insurance if she won't buy the basic service at the same cost. And no, I don't have a bargain basement dentist either.
As an adult I see that I wasn't terribly far from this child, even though I lived in a nicer house, and went to a better school and was never eligible for medicaid or homeless. While it's unlikely I would have ever gotten to a life-threatening point before medical intervention, the sheer number of years that I had gum disease (before I was on my own insurance and it became 'my problem') tells me this is not a problem strictly of the poor so much as a problem of living beyond means, no matter how meager those means are. My parents opted to put money into expensive cars, expensive vacations and expensive divorces instead of teeth. Anyone want to count our cavities?
While it's true that I didn't get a dentist until I got my inheritance, even while I was completely unemployed and had too many places to put my savings, I still went to the dentist. My teeth were too much of a priority not to. I know dental care isn't cheap, but these days what is?
Every year we find more and more health consequences to poor oral care. (Even the diabetes epidemic has been linked to mouth bacteria, not the other way around as has been previously thought). Everyone wants to shame the government for not 'providing' (which has merit) and the dentists for not taking in patients they can't afford (which has less merit because the former causes the latter), but they don't really bring up the subject of prevention, which of course lies with the parents. Who makes us brush and floss? (My parents didn't make us nor teach us to floss. They didn't provide floss. I know my dad didn't floss, Mom may have.) Who takes us (or doesn't take us) to the doctor and dentist (do not get me started on my childhood health care or lack thereof)? Yes, we need more care and yes the hoops to jump through need to be simplified, but like so many social ills, it still comes down to responsibility. The article talks about 'for want of a dentist' but misses the point of 'for want of parents with enough foresight to go to the dentist'.
His mother never knew his tooth was bothering him. The $80 extraction could not have saved him because she would have never had his teeth checked anyway. It's not a matter of $80 dollars so much as twelve years without dental care.