HEALTH, death by poverty; dental care
I used to like in Prince George's County, Maryland. In many ways it's like Proviso Township. It's Black and suburban. One can point to indicators that there is wealth, but there is also suburban poverty.
At Daily Kos nyceve wrote Near nation's capital, an uninsured child dies of a toothache based on For Want of a Dentist
Pr. George's Boy Dies After Bacteria From Tooth Spread to Brain Washington Post (Mary Otto).
Aside from the moral issue of allowing human beings to die for being Black and poor there's a local angle to this story.
One of the things Cook County Board President Todd Stroger wanted to cut completely from the Cook County budget was dental care. Todd Stroger didn't kill Deamonte Driver, but it wasn't for lack of trying. The chief thing that saved Deamonte Driver from being killed by Stroger was that he lived in PG County, not Proviso Township.
At Daily Kos nyceve wrote Near nation's capital, an uninsured child dies of a toothache based on For Want of a Dentist
Pr. George's Boy Dies After Bacteria From Tooth Spread to Brain Washington Post (Mary Otto).
By the time [Deamonte Driver'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.
Deamonte's death and the ultimate cost of his care, which could total more than $250,000, underscore an often-overlooked concern in the debate over universal health coverage: dental care.
Aside from the moral issue of allowing human beings to die for being Black and poor there's a local angle to this story.
One of the things Cook County Board President Todd Stroger wanted to cut completely from the Cook County budget was dental care. Todd Stroger didn't kill Deamonte Driver, but it wasn't for lack of trying. The chief thing that saved Deamonte Driver from being killed by Stroger was that he lived in PG County, not Proviso Township.
Labels: Cook County budget, Deamonte Driver, dentistry, nyceve, poverty, Todd Stroger, Washington Post
posted by Carl Nyberg at
4:39 PM
2 Comments:
The sad thing is that most poor people in America have insurance - Medicaid. But American dentists refuse to treat people with Medicaid or other low reimbursing government subsidized insurance.
It's a mystery to me that dental schools and dental education can be government subsidized and the government doesn't require dentists to treat a certain number of low-income people a year.
Most dentists also won't work and/or live in rural or low-income inner cities and leave many people without dental care.
The problem is that organized dentistry lobbies against any dental or healthcare group that tries to fill the void lest it infringe on their lucrative monopoly.
Most dentists make more money than most physicians while working fewer days and fewer hours doing mostly cosmetic treatment and offering spa therapy.
When Dental Health Aide Therapists started drilling, filling and pulling teeth in rural Alaska which has been unable for decades to attract dentists, the American Dental Association and the Alaska Dental Society sued them
Instead of actually treating America's low-income, dentists organize to throw more fluoride chemicals into our bodies via water fluoridation because "they care so much."
Or they apply fluoride varnish with an extremely toxic 22,600 ppm fluoride.
Fluoride is more toxic than lead
However, there is no evidence that any American is or ever was fluoride deficient; but loads of data showing Americans are dentist deficient.
Deamonte Driver's water supply was fluoridated and I doubt he was drinking fluoride-free bottled water as dentists claim when tooth decay rates climb.
In Illinois, where fluoridation is state-mandated, cavities are rising.
http://www.voices4kids.org/KC07chap1.pdf
the survey taken in 2003-2004
55% of Third-graders have tooth decay
30% have significant decay
4% needed urgent treatment
Poor children (received free/reduced-price lunch)
64% have tooth decay
38% have significant decay
7% needed urgent care
70% of Spanish-only speaking children have cavities
50% of English-only speaking children have cavities
The millions of dollars spent on fluoridation throughout Illinois could be better spent actually treating inevitable cavities.
For more info
Fluoridation 101
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof
Fluoridation News Releases
http://tinyurl.com/6kqtu
Tooth Decay Crises in Fluoridated Areas
http://www.fluoridenews.blogspot.com/
Fluoride Action Network http://www.FluorideAction.Net
Fluoride Journal http://www.FluorideResearch.Org
By
FluorideNews, at 6:11 AM, March 01, 2007
County board President Stroger is doing what a responsible elected is supposed to do. Opperate the county on a fiscally balanced budget. He realizes that budget cuts are painful. By not having these services perhaps residents will not be so opposed to having a tax increase.
By
Anonymous, at 9:22 PM, March 01, 2007
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