Thread: CITIZEN DIES FROM TOOTHACHE YET ALIENS GET FREE HEALTHCARE

For want of a dentist
Maryland boy, 12, dies after bacteria from tooth spread to his brain
Deamonte Driver, aged 12, is shown with his mother, Alyce, at Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C., after emergency brain surgery.
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Linda Davidson / The Washington Post

Updated: 1:20 p.m. CT Feb 28, 2007
WASHINGTON - 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.


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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.

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.

Some poor children have no dental coverage at all. Others travel three hours to find a dentist willing to take Medicaid patients and accept the incumbent paperwork. And some, including Deamonte's brother, get in for a tooth cleaning but have trouble securing an oral surgeon to fix deeper problems.

In spite of efforts to change the system, fewer than one in three children in Maryland's Medicaid program received any dental service at all in 2005, the latest year for which figures are available from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

‘They know there is a problem’
The figures were worse elsewhere in the region. In the District, 29.3 percent got treatment, and in Virginia, 24.3 percent were treated, although all three jurisdictions say they have done a better job reaching children in recent years.

"I certainly hope the state agencies responsible for making sure these children have dental care take note so that Deamonte didn't die in vain," said Laurie Norris, a lawyer for the Baltimore-based Public Justice Center who tried to help the Driver family. "They know there is a problem, and they have not devoted adequate resources to solving it."

Maryland officials emphasize that the delivery of basic care has improved greatly since 1997, when the state instituted a managed care program, and in 1998, when legislation that provided more money and set standards for access to dental care for poor children was enacted.

About 900 of the state's 5,500 dentists accept Medicaid patients, said Arthur Fridley, last year's president of the Maryland State Dental Association. Referring patients to specialists can be particularly difficult.

Fewer than 16 percent of Maryland's Medicaid children received restorative services -- such as filling cavities -- in 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available.


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For families such as the Drivers, the systemic problems are compounded by personal obstacles: lack of transportation, bouts of homelessness, erratic telephone and mail service.

The Driver children have never received routine dental attention, said their mother, Alyce Driver. The bakery, construction and home health-care jobs she has held have not provided insurance. The children's Medicaid coverage had temporarily lapsed at the time Deamonte was hospitalized. And even with Medicaid's promise of dental care, the problem, she said, was finding it.

When Deamonte got sick, his mother had not realized that his tooth had been bothering him. Instead, she was focusing on his younger brother, 10-year-old DaShawn, who "complains about his teeth all the time," she said.


THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS.

Article Continues:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17372104/#storyContinued

Being one who has always had severe dental problems......it's not a joke. I know the few times I had insurance it was months to get in to be seen......then months more to have anything done. They liked to play the game of doing everything but fix the tooth that was the issue.

I went to a couple of good ones and I'm sure I helped make a heafty deposit on a summer home or a really good vacation for them. But when even an adult.....you can't get medicaid help or get into a decent Dr. it's frustrating. Last time I ended up in the ER with a good 2000 bill to pay. That was just for heavy duty antibiotic shots. There were 6-8 mos. waiting for a dentist even with an emergency.

My eldest daughter was on a Healthy Kids program and the moron dentist was supposed to pull a locked in baby tooth and she pulled the permenant one by mistake. So I'm not sold that the ones who sign up to take poor patients are good either.

I've had my share of dental problems also. Good dentists are truly hard to find and without insurance its impossible.

Years ago I worked for a dentist. He took just about every welfare person in 3 counties!

He made me book 45 to 60 patients a day! Hardly ever did he try to save teeth, he just pulled them.

He was nasty, his plumbing was clogged up, made me go in with paper towels and slop out the spit and vomit.

Made me use his old suture needles to re-thread them..instead of buying new.

I got stuck so many times, with dried blood on those suture needles, that I bought some alcohol to sanitize them before I had to work with them.

I brought home $33.62 a week, working 5 1/2 days. The welfare patients were dressed better than me, and were getting a free ride to vocational schools...while I was paying $110 per class at the local college branch.

I worked for this jerk for 6 yrs. before I wised up that I could find a better job.....and not once did I have him check my teeth, I went elsewhere!

It is horrible that people cant afford dental care. Regular medical care policies are espensive, but eye and dental care are even steeper.

Originally Posted by WhatMattersMost

I've had my share of dental problems also. Good dentists are truly hard to find and without insurance its impossible.

I don't understand what you mean. I haven't had dental insurance for over a decade, yet I can go to any dentist I choose.

Of course, I have to pay for my treatment. Is this the problem?

Originally Posted by CountFloyd

Originally Posted by WhatMattersMost

I've had my share of dental problems also. Good dentists are truly hard to find and without insurance its impossible.

I don't understand what you mean. I haven't had dental insurance for over a decade, yet I can go to any dentist I choose.

Of course, I have to pay for my treatment. Is this the problem?

Really? I live in Illinois and whenever I've changed jobs and had to go through the waiting period before my insurance kicked in I found it impossible to see a private dentist without insurance maybe that's the difference.