If only They Could Chew
Nothing says Poverty like a few missing teeth. Whether you are black, brown, white or green if your grill is broken you look broke.
I work in a few homeless ministries serving food to people in soup kitchen type places. The line of hungry people before me walk a line and take a selection of morning grub. Things that are rarely turned down are the soft egg caseroles, oatmeal, and grits- because they have the consistency of gummy mush that don't challenge bad teeth. Some turn down fruit salad with too many apple pieces in them "my teeth can't handle it." Some men are missing half their front teeth. I don't care if it was due to neglectful brushing or prison fights- one young man came in with a piercing tooth ache and couldn't stop holding his jawline. Dentists are frightfully expensive. A root canal and cap can run you close to $4,000-just for one tooth. An implant replacement can be 10k a tooth. No wonder these folks are walking around missing teeth-they cannot afford rent anywhere, so where are they getting money for new teeth.
My father liked to call his dental work "Mercedes Mouth" because to fix all his teeth after about thirty years of smoking and other bad habits cost more than a brand new Mercedes.
Our founding father George Washington by the time he was 50 had a mouth of wooden dentures with no teeth.
He would want us to fix this problem. It is a real serious one. Remember that child in DC a few years who had an absess that infected his brain and caused him to have to have emergency brain surgery which then ended up killing him anyway? We now know dental health has a direct correlation with heart health also.
Where are the free dental clinics for people over the age of 50? There is only one I know of in DC and it is only for spanish speaking immigrants. Old white and black guys out of prison don't qualify. Where are the schools running free clinics in conjunction with their dental schools? What does the current health care do for giving people affordable and accessible dental care? Don't you want to know?
I do- if you have more information than I do comment below or email havemercyonus [at] aol.com with 'Dental' in the subject line.
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