Dental Care: More Important Than We Think.

One of the top priorities for every American parent is the well being of their children. That well being includes their oral health as well. Dental Care is unattainable to many Americans who in turn, are not able to provide it for their children. So when those same American citizens read about Spain's plan to provide free dental care to all children between the ages of seven to fifteen, they began to wonder why the United States doesn't provide the same for their own children. Last week, Bernat Soria (pictured on the right) announced his new dental care plan, which would include dental treatments such as cleanings, fillings, tooth extractions, and check ups. This program would benefit close to a million children in 2008 and upwards of four million in 2012. Surely, the health minister’s proposal must have made most Spanish parents happy but it did a good job to anger one Spaniard in particular. Spanish minister for the economy, Pedro Solbes was openly critical of the health minter’s plan, stating that it would be too expensive as well as questioning its viability. This may have come as no surprise to the Spanish citizens seeing how Mr. Solbes had shot down countless ideas suggested by the government because of cost reasons. The minister for economy was critical. He was against not only the health minister's new dental care plan but, many other plans which came before.

After coming across this article, questions about our own dental care plan here in the United States began to rise. Seeing how we consider ourselves ahead of other countries, why did we not already have a dental plan, which would provide free dental care to all children? More than money, free health care is probably one of the most important things that the government can provide for families throughout the United States. This would allow parents the freedom to not have to worry about their children’s oral care. It was quite recently when twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver (pictured to the left) died from what most people would call a ‘toothache’. What began with some simple pin in his mouth turned into a severe infection, which eventually worked its way up to the young boy's brain and lead to his eventual death. This one event should have been enough for the United States government to take action. The government should use its money not to keep our troops overseas in Iraq, but to help children back here on our home soil with simple things like the ability to get a cleaning, filling, a tooth extraction or even a simple check up.

Reading this article and realizing how much help some people need in the United States makes me wish I could jump into the future, where I plan to use my Dental degree for not only start a private practice, but to also do pro bono work. Much of this pro bono work would be like something similar to what is currently being done in Florida as part of what is called Project: Dentists Care. Establish and supported by the Florida Dental Association, (pictured to the right) this program includes a community of dentist volunteer their time and services to provide a safety net to preventive and restorative dental care for those in greatest need. I believe that, by providing free dental care for all children, should be plan implemented in the United States to help prevent what happened to young Deamonte Driver from happening to other young children. There is no reason why somebody should suffer or even die from something that is treatable and can be taken care of so early and easily.