This is why dental care should be covered under provincial health care.
Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.
A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.
If his mother had been insured.
If his family had not lost its Medicaid.
If Medicaid dentists weren't so hard to find.
If his mother hadn't been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.
By the time Deamonte's own aching tooth got any attention, the bacteria from the abscess had spread to his brain, doctors said. After two operations and more than six weeks of hospital care, the Prince George's County boy died.
Dental care is not optional. It's not cosmetic. It's not trivial. And it's not covered by OHIP, which is even stupider than not covering vision care, physiotherapy, or prescription drugs.
Via
Bitch PhD