Recently ABC News did a story titled “Dental Care Decay” on Deamonte Driver, a 12 year old boy from Baltimore who died due to an infection which spread from a bad tooth to his brain. With this report they shinned a light on the dental insurance crisis in America. There are more than 100 million Americans without dental insurance. Some are fortunate enough to get on Medicaid or programs that some states have but most dentists won’t accept these plans.

When confronted about this problem the government said that they provide benefits and pointed the finger at dentists who refuse to accept Medicaid. The dentists say they can’t afford to take Medicaid because of low reimbursement & slow pay. At the present time this stalemate shows no sign of being resolved.

In 2000 the Surgeon General reported that tooth decay is the most chronic ailment among children. A lot of people are in a tight budget and think that their & their children’s teeth are healthy so they put off visiting the dentist. By this time there is pain the care needed has gotten a lot more expensive & already financially stretched families are left in a difficult situation. The result is millions of adults & children living with tooth pain that can easily turn into much more serious health problems.

Thousands of school days are lost every year due to tooth pain and experts say that as a nation we are in danger of having the dental health of a third world nation. As the richest country in the world this is unacceptable.