Smile, If You Dare...

Next time you chomp down on some chewy piece of meat or, tsk, candy, think about your choppers. Do you have good teeth? Or are you among those who suffer dental dismay?

I'm not going to make readers uncomfortable talking about dentists torturing patients with high-speed drills, nah, that's too much of a cliche. What I do want to toss out for discussion is the COST of dental care and the apparently limited access to the tooth doc for people without money. Some good news--the stimulus money covers some dental care for low-income persons, but I'd suspect not enough.

For a while I paid over $600 a month (oops, a year) for dental insurance, until I read an article about the futility of my "donation" to the dental insurance industry. Sure enough, when I examined what the policy covered, I decided to take my chances and go insurance-less.

A good friend with limited income recently endured a dental session for a broken crown which cost her hundreds of dollars. In the week or so since the initial procedure it's broken off twice.  Another good friend told of someone she knows who, because of medication side effects, needed her whole mouth redone--her teeth were breaking off--and was told it would cost $20,000. What makes it hard is that she's a nun with no income or insurance.

In the olden days, say 10-15 years ago, I'd be able to beg a friendly dentist to provide some pro bono care for some homeless folks with severe dental problems--we're not talking vanity care--and I'm sure some still do that. Kudos! But my circle of friends have shared some pretty awful tales of no insurance, huge dental bills.

While filming for our documentary in Phoenix last year we visited the impressive Cass Dental Clinic at that city's Human Service Campus, a place where thousands of homeless adults turn for some form of help. Dr. Kris Volcheck, the clinic's founder, impressed even me--a dental-phobic--with his enthusiastic approach to oral health.

But escaping notice of most policymakers and the public: dental care for non-fiscally-endowed persons has gone the way of land-line phones. Medicaid doesn't cover dental for adults, just children, but you still need to find a dentist willing to accept Medicaid. Medicare isn't any better.

I've seen what desperate people do when tooth pain becomes unbearable. Many tend to self-medicate. I probably would too. I've seen perfectly intelligent, delightful adults cover their mouth to hide their diseased teeth. Dr. Volcheck showed us before/after pix of a 50-ish woman whose life was turned around with some much-needed dental care.

Seems to me that oral health should stand tall next to physical health and mental health. Oh yeah, I forgot, we've decided that health care of any sort is something only for the rich. My idea of justice is some unmentionable form of dental torture for elected officials who don't value a sparkling smile on the face of an impoverished constituent.

photos by the author