MAN DIED DUE TO NO DENTAL INSURANCE

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There is something wrong on many levels when a man dies of an infected wisdom tooth in the supposedly richest country in the world.

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A 24-year-old Cincinnati man died from a tooth infection earlier this week, due to the fact he was unable to afford the medication needed for treatment.

NBC affiliate WLWT reported that Kyle Willis was unable to afford the necessary antibiotics for treatment. Two weeks ago, Willis’ wisdom tooth began to hurt, and a dentist indicated that it should be pulled. However, as he was out of work and without insurance, Willis could not afford to have the tooth pulled. But, when his head began hurting and his face began to swell, he visited the emergency room at University Hospital.

“The (doctors) gave him antibiotic and pain medication. But he couldn’t afford to pay for the antibiotic, so he chose the pain meds, which was not what he needed,” his aunt, Bootsy Collins told WLWT. She said she could not believe it when she received the unexpected phone call about her nephew. “I said, ‘What do you mean they’re calling the family?’ (My daughter) said, ‘Mom, the infection (Willis) had in his tooth has gone to his brain.”

“People don’t realize that dental disease can cause serious illness,” Dr. Irvin Silverstein, a dentist at the University of California at San Diego, told ABC News. “The problems are not just cosmetic. Many people die from dental disease.”

It is difficult, however, for many people to obtain needed dental care, and it is not getting any easier as the economy worsens. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation report in April, 33 percent of those surveyed said they skipped dental care or dental checkups due to inability to pay for them. And, in August, a Commonwealth Fund report indicated that 72 percent of those who lose health insurance when they lose their jobs said that they skip health care and do not fill prescriptions, because they simply cannot afford them.

“When people are unemployed or don’t have insurance, where do they go? What do they do?” Silverstein said. “People end up dying, and these are the most treatable, preventable diseases in the world.”

Unfortunately, many people believe that “the system” takes care of people in this dilemma, and it just is not true. And, free dental clinics available around the country are not always available to individuals who need them, either because they are not located in their area or because the clinics are overwhelmed and are not accepting new patients, or force patients to wait months for treatment.

Silverstein, who operates three free dental clinics in the San Diego area, confirmed this problem with ABC News. “We’re overwhelmed right now,” he said. “We can’t take any new patients.”

Willis was a father, with a six-year-old daughter, as well as an aspiring paralegal.

 

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• Lack of Dental Care Can Kill You (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Cincinnati Father, 24, Dead Because He Couldn’t Afford Dental Care–UPDATED with Video (crooksandliars.com)
• Uninsurance shouldn’t be a lethal condition (allbleedingstops.blogspot.com)
• Man Dies Of Toothache (thinkprogress.org)
• Late Night: Toothaches (firedoglake.com)