Watch Why Trinity Can’t Go to the Dentist on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.
The next generation of Americans already is suffering. Nearly 5 million American children, or one in 16, did not get regular dental checkups in 2008 because their families could not afford it, according to an Institute of Medicine report released last year.
Going without dental care can ruin lives. Louis Morris, 33, of Philadelphia, found out on Saturday while seeing a dentist for the first time in 15 years at a volunteer clinic that his gum infection had worn away at his jawbone, could spread to other parts of his body and wipe out all of his teeth, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Morris already had lost several of his teeth.
Forgoing dental care sometimes is fatal. Kyle Willis, a 24-year-old father from Cincinnati, died from a tooth infection last year because he could not afford antibiotics or to get the tooth pulled out, according to ABC News. He was unemployed and had no health insurance. The infection spread, caused his brain to swell and then killed him.
This disgusting state of affairs is the same in Great Britain.
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