Toward A Toothless America

I knew a girl when I lived in seoul south korea who changed my life when she introduced me to vintage Jackson Browne music, but she also taught me something in a poem she wrote. The first part read "Ï am thinking of how so few people wear necklaces out of teeth."

Saving baby teeth as a memento of childhood and tooth fairies makes the whole idea of losing a tooth exciting and even something to look forward to and there seems no greater joy for a seven year old to be so happy to make one twist with the tongue and voila! the tooth is out.

And then we grow up. We have back molar cavities, some requiring root canals topped off by a cheap trashy looking stainless steel crown. We need expensive x-rays to verify the strength of our teeth before getting a much needed professional cleaning. Or we chip a front tooth or lord forbid one or two get knocked out or broken .

And so what are we without dental insurance supposed to do? Many--too many-- do without dental care for decades. The reasons vary: maybe their insurance plan does not include dental care. Maybe there's not a shred of extra cash to pay for the treatment needed .Some people just resign themselves to a life without dental care

And whose idiotic idea was it to separate the mouth and teeth from the rest of the human body?

And why is this true in the united states of America? Why? Who in the world made the decision that insurance plans must be connected to employment? And the practice of only giving an employee 38 hours a week instead of forty just so that company can avoid providing insurance benefits to people who need it seems downright meanhearted and greedy to me.

I know many people in my town and in my circle of friends who have desperately needed dental care and couldn't get it so their teeth fall out and break so easily. One man I know is completely toothless so he quit his substitute teaching job because he got tired of the comments and jokes calling him an old man.

People all at once ought to start wearing necklaces made out of teeth. If America is going to let her citizens go toothless well then let's just take a huge bite out of that age-old lack of dental coverage
May the sight and stench of rotted American teeth flow all the way to Washington dc so that all the self-absorbed politicians with excellent dental coverage--including the President--might realize too many citizens toward a toothless America that they are propelling