When I first heard about Dennis Kucinich and the olive pit, like most people, I laughed and thought he was acting like an entitled asshole.
Then I started to read more about what happened to him and truthfully, I thought to myself, this is a teachable moment, especially if everyone stopped the jokes.
Dental care is unaffordable for most Americans. You've got to be rich or certainly solidly middle class to get care. I've long maintained that dental care in the United States is a luxury few can afford, like a Lexus in the garage.
Yes, you can access reduced cost dental care of some sort at a university dental clinic where you are seen by a student (supervised by a seasoned dentist). Or you can cross the border and get excellent care in Mexico.
But the truth remains, countless millions suffer in pain, and the rest of us jump through hurdles to get our teeth fixed at something approaching a cost we can afford. For example, I go to a great dentist in Chinatown after I decided I would just no longer be gouged by rapacious dentists.
If what is being reported is even remotely accurate, Kucinich was facing staggering dental bills.
And even if Dennis has dental insurance, it must be the sort of bare bones dental insurance that many Americans have. Though "insured", this junk dental insurance leaves those who have it with huge bills, deductibles and co-pays. If Dennis needed implants to repair the damage from the olive pit, he was undoubtedly looking at a major expense.
But the bottom line isn't really about Dennis Kucinich, it's about a system that makes dental care unaffordable, and dental insurance woefully inadequate. So Americans simply go without.
Laugh all you want about Dennis, but I wouldn't because the same thing could happen to any one of us. And we'd be shit out of luck--no money, no insurance and no teeth.
In fact, I think Dennis made the right decision to recoup his dental bills. Why in the world should he foot huge costs as the victim of negligent food handling?
And it seems, not only did he have huge bills but some nasty medical problems as well.
But let's return for a moment to our thoroughly broken healthcare system. Millions of Americans go to bed in terrible pain and undergo all manner of home remedies to deal with untreated and very painful dental disease. Any doctor will tell you untreated dental disease can lead to all sorts of serious medical problems with significant complications.
There is no dental coverage in the Affordable Care Act, so Americans will continue to struggle to come up with the money to pay the huge fees American dentists charge. Lucky folks will hope and pray that a Free Health Clinic comes to their city, so they will be able to get some dental care on the floor of a U.S. convention center, just like this.
I met many of these people at the Kansas City Free Health Clinic. The National Association of Free Health Clinics was able to offer dental care there. I heard so many stories of people enduring terrible pain for months and longer simply because they couldn't afford care.
Here are a few:
And here is Brandon Scott with a broken tooth. He works full time and has no insurance.
Dental care and treating dental disease is a huge and growing problem in this country which the Affordable Care Act does not address.
So, Dennis Kucinich and the olive pit could have become an important teachable moment, instead we chuckled. It's no laughing matter.
And remember what happened to young Deamonte Driver. He died!
There's now theDeamonte Driver Dental Project which helps to get dental care to at risk children--and there are so many kids who go to school in pain from untreated dental disease despite being citizens of the richest country on the planet.
UPDATE:
CTPatriot sent me an email with the following letter from Kucinich. In addition, CT says that last week Cenk Uygur mocked Kucinich on one or another of his shows. Maybe Cenk ought to do some research before running his mouth. Or possibly Cenk doesn't understand what it's like to get dental care in this country because he has some high octane dental insurance and makes big bucks from MSNBC. Just sayin.
Regarding Settlement of Dental Injury Law Suit
Dear Friend,
Though I would prefer to focus your attention on my work dealing with the profoundly important issues that face our nation, such as job creation, getting the economy back on track, and ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - it seems that some are more interested in discussing my personal dental issues. Given the degree of public interest you should know some details:
This injury required nearly two years, three dental surgeries, and a substantial amount of money to rectify.
The legal action you have heard about was filed due to the severity, expense and duration of the dental injury, the complications which followed and which still persist. I wanted to resolve this matter without filing a lawsuit. The events below involved numerous dental visits, more than are detailed in this summary.The dental injury set in motion a chain of dental and medical events.
When I bit into the olive pit, (unbeknown to me at the time), upon impact the tooth split in half, vertically through the crown and the tooth, below the level of the bone. Externally there was no evidence of a break. This was not about aesthetics. The internal structure of the tooth was rendered nonrestorable.Although the pain was excruciating, I shook it off and I went right back to work.
This tooth is a key tooth which anchored my upper bridgework. The injured tooth and the bone above it became infected. I took a course of antibiotics for the infection, had an adverse reaction to the antibiotics which caused me to have an intestinal obstruction and emergency medical intervention.
Later, my dentist referred me to a specialist who informed me that the damaged tooth had to be removed. A third dentist removed the tooth and I was fitted for a temporary partial. I waited for the bone to heal. An implant was placed, but it failed. Many months later still a second implant succeeded. My bridgework had to be completely reconfigured, a new partial was designed, so this injury did not affect only one tooth, but rather involved six (6) replacement teeth as well. A new crown with a new precision attachment was engineered and put in place. To clarify, no dental expenses were covered by any health plan, nor did I have dental insurance that covered the injury, which, until it was resolved, affected my ability to chew food properly.
The clamor for information about this incident requires that I provide at least this much information. I would have liked to provide such details sooner but did not want it said that I was trying the case in the media. So that is why I declined any interviews about the matter.The parties have exchanged information and after some investigation and discussion have resolved the matter for an amount all parties believe reflects the actual out-of-pocket expenses related to this incident. The terms of the settlement are confidential; however, I feel that the defendants have responded fairly and reasonably. I don't want to have to make another dental visit for a very long time, and will be making no further comment on this matter.
Thank you very much.
Dennis
UPDATE 2
It was brought to my attention that Anderson (Keeping Them Honest) Cooper at CNN also chose to slam Kucinich. Anderson owes Kucinich an apology as does Cenk.
Here's Anderson-Keeping them Honest- Cooper
And here's Cenk Uygur:
Sorry for any typos, I'm on a rocky Amtrak train returning from Washington to New York. I'll have more on what I learned there very soon. You may be surprised.