Absolutely heartbreaking....

[aziza]

I was reading one of my favorite blogs yesterday (afrobella.com) and came upon this:

Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...022702116.html

What's being done: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...7.html?sub=new

This blew my mind. Your thoughts?

 

[*Stargazer*]

Disgraceful on so many different levels. I read that about a week ago on a different forum. I think its criminal that basic healthcare for children isn't available for many children in this country.

I also think its sad that many people don't know just how deadly bad oral hygiene can be

 

[Beauty Mark]

ITA that people are not aware that oral healthcare is so critical. The dental plans in the US, IMO, often take the back seat to the health care plans by a long shot.

 

[giz2000]

This should never happen...in this country...in any country....what a tragedy.

 

[kimmy]

this is really sad. he was such a sweet looking, adorable little boy.

maybe this won't be in vain though, and people will start taking better care of themselves...hopefully. so this never happens again.

 

[Ms. Z]

This is so sad; the loss of a child is always a tragedy.
I hope the government makes changes to make sure all children have insurance.

 

[Daligani]

Oh my god, how terrible and PREVENTABLE!!!!!! That poor child.. jesus, that poor family

I know first hand about how people on medicaid have little options. I had it for me and the kidlings for a long while and we were treated like dirt.. just as most others are. It IS hard finding good care. Heck, it's hard enough finding a decent physician, much less a dentist. It's just absolutely horrible.

I think waaaaay too many people don't take dental hygiene serious enough. It's not just about a simple toothache. Infections in the mouth can easily spread into the brain or bloodstream. I have a mild heart condition and because of that, I have to take a large dose of antibiotics before any dental work, including a simple cleaning. If not, any infection or bacteria or whatever can go to my heart and make me extremely ill, if not kill me. It's no laughing matter.

There is absolutely NO reason that people in this country shouldn't have adequate dental care for children.. AND with easy access to it. It's ridiculous that it's not given the importance it deserves

 

[bAbY_cHiCkEn01]

Also, I might add, speaking from very personal experience. Is that it can also be the dentists fault. I kid you not. I had a hole in my tooth, got so bad I was in agony, it had an absess also. So I went to the dentist and he took the tooth out, that was all good and dandy EXCEPT he should have given me something for the absess to get rid of it BEFORE taking the tooth out. So I left it a week, it wasn't getting any better, in fact way way WAY worse, so I went to the doctor, who said take me to the hospital where it was discovered coz that retard didn't fix the absess the poison was throughout my entire system and just about damn near killed me... Penacillon fixed me up good tho.

 

[Deirdre]

It makes me very angry that children below a certain wage earning bracket don't count on so many levels. Medical and dental care should be freely available to all people - instead of propping up industry and waging war on other nations, we (as a society) need to look after our children. A healthy, educated population is of greater benefit to a country, than what is becoming a slave class (wage slaves) servicing the bank accounts of the one percenter shareholders.

I guess I'm a bit of a socialist that way.

 

[saniyairshad]

This post made me cry seriously I almost forgot how fortunate I am, and when I make a big deal over small things I should rethink that there r so many more worse things that could happen in life.