When I was hired at my current job, one of the first things I looked at were the benefits. Would we receive dental and eye insurance? Yes. I haven’t been to a dentist in five years. Ethan, at 7, has only been once. Now that we get dental coverage I’m making appointments stat.
Why is it that preventative health coverage usually focuses on things below the neck?
Dental and eye insurance are one of those things we don’t often talk about when it comes to medical coverage, even though healthy eyes and teeth (and brains!) are essential for one’s overall health. Persistent gum disease alone can give you the same symptoms as the flu and cold for months if left untreated, and often it is left untreated. More often, those with gum disease lose their teeth prematurely, and they do so because they can’t see a dentist until it’s an emergency. Dentists who accept low-income folks are more likely to pull ailing teeth than try to save them, and reconstruction is usually a matter of whether or not you can afford to pay — not whether or not the individual needs it — leaving the patient with an emotionally and physically sensitive “treatment” that rarely solves the ailment altogether.
I thought about this after catching a story online, in which a doctor offers free dental work to a young man who has lost most of his teeth because he couldn’t afford a dentist:
The Star story about Jones’ published last month highlighted the fact that there is no public dental insurance for the working poor in Ontario, and only partial coverage for those on social assistance, meaning the government will pay for a few emergencies, such as tooth extraction, but not to prevent teeth from rotting in the first place. Dental care is not included in the Canada Health Act, which sets out the medical treatments that provinces must pay for, so without private insurance or a company benefit plan, most people working in low-wage jobs can’t afford dental care.
Cynical me sees a dentist using a young adult’s predicament for free publicity, but positive me thinks at least somebody’s picking up the slack for someone somewhere.
This abstract of a study examining “the distribution of medical and dental insurance coverage by sociodemographic characteristics” shows that American children are over twice as likely to go without dental insurance as they are medical insurance, especially if they are from poor families.
Overall, 14.1 percent children were uninsured for medical care and 36.4 were uninsured for dental care; thus, there were 2.6 times as many children uninsured for dental than for medical care. Near-poor and Hispanic children were most likely to be without medical or dental coverage. Near-poor children were more likely to be uninsured for dental care than for medical care
The last time I went to the dentist he told me that I have molars with a shape predisposed to cavities, as well as a mouth too small to accommodate the wisdom teeth I’ve never pulled. (Glad you spent so much on orthodontics, ma!) I’m apprehensive about what the dentist will find.
The CDC has more information on prevention of oral diseases, but it’s frustrating to see that many states (including my own) have no plan articulated for public oral health care at all. Consider this a reminder that we shouldn’t stop at universal body healthcare alone - our eyes and teeth (and brains!) need coverage, too.
Even my middle class, fully-insured in nearly every way family had no dental insurance, something I didn’t know until years after my mom stopped paying for me to see the dentist. (Although it does explain why she never got me the braces my school thought I needed when I was getting treatment for a speech impediment) I thought my dental coverage lapsed with my regular coverage, and didn’t see a dentist from when I was 19 until I was almost 26.
It cost $1,000 to repair the damage of just that much neglect that late in life. First teeth pulled, first cavities. These two things were related. Wait - $1,025. The mouthwash to repair the gum disease was $25.
Which is crazy - preventative dental care is not expensive, but after a year or two without it, I was afraid to go in and find out I needed expensive work that I could not afford. I couldn’t even imagine how bad it felt to be skipping the teeth cleaning for Ethan.
You’re absolutely right about the value of preventive care, and how weird it is that dental is neglected. Also, eye care and hearing. Can you think of anyone who has a regular hearing test covered?
Looking at my state’s plan, I discover that the federal Medicaid statute requires states to provide dental care (or coverage) to all children eligible for Medicaid. Who knew? It’s not being advertised around here.
Even in countries with unviersal health care, like mine, dental and eye care is often not part of it, after you’ve turned 18. I have to pay for my own dental care, and my own glasses. There is a general consensus that dental care should be part of the public healthc are, but so far it has not been made so.
Oh, and I know that it’s hard to feel sorry for me about that, since I get free health care otherwise (and free eduction etc.), but I do pay a wee bit more in taxes…. (a tradeoff I’m quite willing to do BTW).
I should also get around to go to a dentist - haven’t been for years.
I don’t know that my family has ever had dental insurance. Thankfully, between dad’s tightwad budgeting and mom’s background in healthcare, twice-annual dentist appointments were always a reality to me.
I just (just, like an hour ago) landed a new job, and I’m delighted to read in the benefits package that dental care is part of the deal. Once they hire me full-time and not this silicon valley tech job swindling maneuver they call “full time contract”. Ugh.
With that, I’m going to brush my teeth.
Chef has, I swear, the healthiest teeth ever and he hasn’t seen a dentist in about a decade. He brushes obsessively and actually flosses daily (I don’t know anyone else that does that).
My beef with my genetics is that according to my doctor there isn’t much I can do to avoid cavities — the molar shape breeds plaque and it’s unreachable by a regular toothbrush, so it’s fill or fill. What gives, Mother Nature?!
Congrats on the new job, Chuck!! Details?
Yeah, I’m doing knowledge engineering for a dot-com, like it’s 1997 or something. At this point, I’m not sure what my NDA allows me to talk about and what it doesn’t (HR and I have some things to go over).
Whatever. It’s nice to know that for the low, low price of two college degrees you can get a somewhat poorly paying job in the Bay Area, despite the oft-cited burst of the tech industry bubble.
*raises hand*
But, I’m so tight-assed that the thought of fucking up the teeth we paid ≈$3k to straighten sends me into conniptions.
My family has always been blessed enough to have more or less comprehensive insurance, from eyes to teeth to general medicine (even if we bitch about premiums). It’s only lately do I realize how many people don’t have that.
A young boy died recently due to not being able to get an infected tooth taken care of because his parents couldn’t afford dental care. I know Pandagon covered it.
I am a fairly new reader to your site, but I felt the need to respond. I am a full time student and a part time worker. I have a two year old daughter, and a partner. Between him and I, we make a decent amount of money, especially for the area of the country we live in. We cannot afford to go to the dentist; we can barely afford the basic medical insurance- which we have for emergencies- but we can no way afford to go to the dentist. I have horrible, horrible teeth that can be accounted for by two things: bad genetics and no dental insurance. I have never had dental insurance in all of my 27 years- I cannot even remember the last time I went to the dentist. As a result, I have several cracked teeth and one that I am almost positive is infected. But at the end of the day, I have to decide if my family gets to eat, or do we spend money on “silly” things such as having my teeth fixed. I just thank my lucky stars that my daughter got my partner’s teeth. They are perfect. Otherwise, we may not have to eat. I will not have her go through the pain and embarassment that I have to all because we can’t afford dental insurance. Even then, I am not sure we could afford to go to the dentist, as I am sure it would not cover everything.
It’s so true! I’m in a PhD program at a university that, shall we say, is not hurting financially. But do they give grad students dental care or eye care along with the otherwise-great primary/preventive* care health plan we have? My heavens, no! As a result, I try to get a checkup once every 2 years or so, which is about all I can afford.
*Great primary care, yes. But once you have a more serious problem, they limit your visits to outside specialsts to an absurdly small number before you have to start shelling out the dough.
I think dental insurance is neglected because people don’t think that they will necessarily need it, or they can afford to live without it. I have seen that people are opting to travel outside of the US for dental care, even to Mexico, because it’s not only cheap but it’s very good(not always, of course). In case your interested you may want to check out a book called “Patients Without Borders”, which is about getting all types of quality dental and health care in foreign countries with no insurance.
I am so worried about my teeth. I am working as a contracted employee because I needed income since I was laid off and downsized twice in the past 6 years. Most companies are only hiring temps and there are no benefits. All I am looking for is a dental plan since I am basically healthy. I want to continue with the maintenance of my teeth, bad teeth lead to poor health. I would be willing to pay $50/month to have this protection so that I can go to the dentist for an exam, cleaning, have my cavity filled. It is so difficult to find individual dental care. I’ve noticed that some states do offer it, but my dentist only accepts specific ones and most dentists do not except just any insurance. I have check with Aetna, Delta Dental, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Oxford and I cannot seem to find insurance anywhere. Does anyone have any ideas for me on where to look for affordable dental insurance that most dentist will accept? Affording full benefits in New Jersey is out of the question if I want to eat and have a roof over my head. It is so scary to be out there without medical benefits. There has to be somewhere to go to for help in obtaining affordable benefits. I work hard and am not looking for a free ride. Just a break for an affordable plan so I can have peace of mind that if something happens to me, I will not be put out on the curb. Anyone have any ideas on how I can get insurance just until I can get a permanent job as opposed to a contract position with an temp. agency? Any advise would be much appreciated.