I hate going to the dentist as much as the next girl, but I have to tell you, these days, I’m feeling pretty grateful for the privilege.
Hearing Deamonte’s story yesterday, and then reading Robyn Fleming’s thoughts on this tragedy of a 12-year old boy dying because of a lack of basic dental care, spurned Siobhán to learn more about how widespread this problem is among children.
We were both stunned by what she found.
The American Journal of Public Health reported in July 2005 about American children that, "More than half of all low-income children without health insurance fail to go to a dentist for cleanings." Their report contrasts these children with those who do have private or public dental coverage, among whom only 20-24 percent failed to visit a dentist for preventive care in the previous year.
The Child Trends Databank explains that, such as was the case for Deamonte, lack of dental health in children can have serious consequences. "Untreated dental problems or poor oral health in children can result in problems in eating, speaking, and sleeping, poor performance in school, poor social relationships, difficulty concentrating, poor self-image, and problems completing schoolwork," the Databank says. "Children with early childhood dental problems also often weigh less."
The breadth and depth of this issue only brings home Robyn’s point even further, that Deamonte’s tragic death is far from an isolated case, and that, as she so eloquently states, "The larger problem here isn’t just about access to dental care. This is a problem that so often is overlooked or ignored by this country as a whole. This is an issue of those that have and those who have nothing. This is about poverty!"
Thinking about this story, and those words, I can’t help but think back on my pre-teen days, when one of my biggest problems, and sources of pain and anguish, was the $2,000 set of braces that were slapped on my face for purely cosmetic purposes.
Seems embarrassingly ridiculous compared to the pain and anguish that Deamonte’s mother must now be suffering–all because her son wasn’t able to get a toothache treated.
