Dental Care IS Healthcare

The first thing people notice is our smile. After that they will zoom in to look at your teeth. We need our teeth to look good but they are essential to eating well and we need to eat a lot of the time yet, folks don't put dental care on the top of their priority list of things to do for themselves.  In 2018, 27 million people did not have health insurance coverage. Some 74 million Americans had no dental coverage in 2016. Even basic Medicare recipients are out of luck because that provides very limited coverage of dental, hearing and vision. So America says,  the hell with your head! You don't really need to maintain dental, hearing or vision do you? UGH!

Why do we treat going to the dentist as a luxury when it is essential to good head health? Really bad teeth can lead to  gastrointestinal problems, increased risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. There is also a population of Americans who have dental coverage but who can't get treatment. Some states like Alabama, Maryland, Delaware and Tennessee don't cover dental care. Meanwhile 2/3 rds of American dentists do not accept Medicaid. Maybe this mess is why Bernie is always shouting that America really needs Universal Healthcare to clean up this paper mess and more importantly clean up the messes on our teeth. 

So now there is this unexpected power of dentists to lay on a lot of out of pocket costs to us that many Americans would rather deal with their rotting teeth and painful gum disease than fight the system.

Then there is the problem that 51 million Americans live in dental deserts. You can't find a dentist in a poor neighborhood. Dentists can open their practices wherever they want so of course they will decide to instal their spit sink in a wealthy neighborhood because that is where the folks are who will pay for the sparkle in their smile. Hey! It is tough to even decide to be a dentist now. First you have to want to put your precious fingers in a stanky diseased mouth who wants to bite down on them, and more importantly the average debt of dental school is about $300,000 dollars that these courageous dentists have to pay back in student loans. Dentists need money!

Not to mention the cost of office space and equipment and staff are added costs to a dentists burdon. The professionals also have to put up with all those fake You Tube remedies for great teeth and a new whitening strip or creative toothpaste blend as the source to fix all your dental needs problems. So in desperation there can be abuse with not so very needed diagnosis from desperate dentists to get the business to cover their expenses.

There can be unnecessary treatments from root canals, gum grafts  to cosmetic procedures like bleaching or veneers. People with money will pay for those treatments and all can be happy but we need dental coverage affordable to all Americans. Dumb Ass Donald Trump suggest that folks can go to Dental Therapists of which they are only even available in selected states. They are nothing more then someone to talk to and maybe give you a cleaning. Little or no real medical education is required. Why does he hate educated folks with real good advice? We need some good real changes in this country for all Americans. Let's start with changing our President!