DENTAL NEWS
Two separate recent incidents involving the dental care delivery system in America bring into question whether the American system really delivers the best quality dental care in the world like it is generally believed.
The first incident was the death of an unemployed man from Ohio who died from a tooth infection because he couldn't afford antibiotics, something which highlights how many poor and working class people are not able to get basic dental care because they don't have or cannot afford dental insurance.
Unfortunately this is not the only example of a person dying due to lack of proper dental care as back in 2007 a 12-year-old boy passed away from an untreated bacterial tooth infection that eventually spread to the boy's brain.
The second incident highlighting a possible decline in the American dental care system was when a man from West Orange, NJ tried to set fire to a dentist office in nearby Bloomfield because he was unhappy about a dental procedure he underwent five years earlier. The the man suspected of the crime, Gray Harewood, is being held in Essex County Jail and the case is under investigation by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
But the list of American dental system failures doesn't stop there. According to the California Dental Hygienists' Association, almost 80% of nursing home patients and 20% of American children don't receive any professional dental care whatsoever yet there is little if any public outcry, despite the fact that tooth decay is five times more common than asthma among US children aged 5 to 17. This lack of dental care is not without cost to the American taxpayer, however, as it'sI estimated that we spend over $33 million a year to treat patients in hospital emergency rooms of periodontal disease related illnesses.
"People are hurting financially throughout our state and nation," said California Dental Hygienists' Association president Lisa Okamoto, "Unfortunately, many people still view oral care as an optional cosmetic service even though the mouth is the mirror of health and disease and the entry point for a lot of bacteria into our body."
Okamoto said that oral health and dental hygiene are now considered essential components of overall patient care provided by nurses, physicians, hygienists and dentists because oral health not only reflects general health conditions but may worsen or complicate existing conditions - pregnancy, respiratory, cardiovascular, coronary, diabetes, immune disorders and other inflammatory disease.
America has suffered a lot due to the recession. Dental insurance is costly and afforded by a few. So due the movement of patients to greener pastures has led to a decline in the Dental System
ReplyDeleteAlthough fewer and fewer companies are offering dental insurance as part of their employees health benefit package, over 40% still do. That's hardly "a few" people!
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