Yesterday morning on my way home from the Downtown YMCA, well before 7:00 a.m., I passed a large group of people massed on the sidewalk and steps in front of the Baylor University College of Dentistry on Gaston Avenue. No doubt these good folks were lined up waiting for the doors to open to the community dental clinic the school operates to benefit low-income patients and the dental students who train there.
Across the years we have referred many people to the Baylor dental clinic. The prices patients pay are considerably below what one might expect to pay in a private dental practice, but often the costs even here remain beyond the reach of many, if not most, of the people with whom we work.
Central Dallas Ministries operates a dental practice. We have two dentists who each work 20 hours each week. We need more volunteer dentists to increase the number of hours our practice is open each week.
Our practice is limited though. We do extractions, simple fillings and routine dental hygiene and education. We can't do more extensive procedures due to cost and limitations of equipment and staff. Still, we try to relieve pain and help low-income patients do the best they can with their dental health and that of their children.
When's the last time you had a tooth ache?
Remember how much fun it was?
I thought of that as I drove past the large group waiting to get into their chosen place of relief.
Most of us don't think about it, but dental care for the poor is almost non-existent in a place like inner city Dallas. Medicaid benefits stop once a person becomes an adult and don't pick up again until retirement age. During that long middle passage of life, without care, teeth have a way of failing and failing terribly.
Just one more thing with which the poor must contend.
6 comments:
I didn't realize how difficult...and near impossible...dental care was for someone without insurance and without financial means until recently. One of the college students recently turned 21. Therefore, she is no longer eligible for Medicaid. A few months after turning 21 she had an awful toothache that became unbearable and made it unable for her to concentrate in her classes. Because she is a college student...in Commerce...the process is even more complicated. She skipped classes one day to come to Dallas and went from clinic to clinc beginning at about 7:00 a.m., only to be told by some she needed to register (on a different day) or by another that she needed proof of income or at another she was too late to be seen that day.
She finally found a clinic who charged her $54 to be seen and to give her medicine to heal the infection. She returned to them 2 weeks later, skipping classes again, paid $99 to have a full x-ray of her mouth so that they could tell her she needs a cavity filled, a root canal, a deep cleaning, and who knows what else--none of which is cheap. Many clinics don't offer more than basic services, as Larry pointed out. Regardless, to get any of it taken care of she is going to have to skip classes and work (she got a job in December) to wait in lines hoping to be seen or to register so that they can give her an appointment and then skip classes AGAIN so she can be seen months later.
Time, money, transportation, and her college education are all issues here. She's been told that if she doesn't deal with it now, the infection will come back...and will be much worse...and could result in permanent teeth being pulled (she may have to do that anyway because a root canal is too expensive). The clinic that would have squeezed her in was closed during her Christmas break because the volunteer dentists wanted to be with their families over the holidays.
Her dental care is on indefinite hold.
Even for middle class folks like me that have no dental insurance, dental care is frighteningly expensive. One of our down-and-out friends did find dental care in Mobile, AL for a significant discount. He was able to count on us for a ride over and back. But I realize that this puts him a cut above many people living day to day with no help at all. Larry, there is within our borders a 'third world country' that goes unrecognized. Keep sounding the alarm.
It's sad to say that everything that you experienced while passing Baylor University's School of Dentistry sounds very familiar. I have lived in Dallas my entire life and my family just received dental insurance, but it is only temporary for myself. I am 20 years old and it has been quite tedious dealing with tooth infections without insurance so I understand how those people feel in the quest for simple hygiene. Insurance is nearly impossible to have for those without a job, and what about those who cannot get to the school of dentistry? Dallas is doing a lot to help turn its urban areas into decent places to live, but if there is no one to stay there because of health problems then what is the point? So I commend Central Dallas Ministries for helping people with what they need.
Thanks Larry. I just wrote a long post but decided to scrap it. Too many words, not saying enough.
Thanks for what you do.
Larry, if we had more people stop to think of the poor like you, the world would be a better place. Too often, the people who are in poverty are passed by without a second glance, and a good number of those people are or claim to be Christians. It is sad that Medicaid cuts them off once they become adults. What are they supposed to do when a situation arises that needs immediate attention? The government looks the other way, saying, "We provide enough. They can get jobs." The problem is that it isn't enough, and as long as we look the other way, it never will be.
I took a course titled 'Politics of Developing Countries' last semester at ACU where we discussed challenging issues like dental health. In Sub-Saharan African and many other under-developed nations, insufficient or no dental care is a main cause of illness and even death. I was surprised and ignorant to this issue, because health care debates/fundraisers/programs do not often involve dental hygiene. After reading the blog and comments about people's personal difficulties finding affordable dental care, I again must admit I was ignorant to the extent of this issue in our country. Though I have no personal experience to speak of, I feel angered that dental insurance and care is not available to everyone, and that there is not more awareness about the difficulties people face when it comes to dental care. This shows a huge inequality in our country that people, including myself do not even consider and I am so encouraged that there are others attempting to help those in need. Honestly, I even feel guilty that I have never given thought to this before.
Post a Comment