“Be true to your teeth, and they won’t be false to you.”
Soupy Sales
Dental care is far more than teeth cleaning and filling a cavity. Periodontal disease, a breakdown in our gums, is associated with tooth loss and provides a means for pathogenic bacteria to create severe infections, not only in our mouth but throughout our body. Poor dentition also alters what you can and cannot eat. Finally, there is the social stigma that comes from missing and misaligned teeth.
47% of the US has no dental coverage
And of course, there are disparities
By the way, have you noticed how frequently what we consider “the South” shows up as near the bottom on educational and health issues? Do you think, and this is purely speculation, that the economic devastation brought to the South by the Civil War continues to reverberate today?
But again, I digress. Through their professional societies, the dentists are lobbying against the proposal – much as the AMA did against Medicare in 1964. They may win the battle, but it is doubtful if they will win the war.
Source: US dental benefits: on the cusp of a historic change Financial Times
Chuck Dinerstein, MD, MBA
Director of Medicine
Dr. Charles Dinerstein, M.D., MBA, FACS is Director of Medicine at the American Council on Science and Health. He has over 25 years of experience as a vascular surgeon.
