Ten years ago, an article jolted the nation. On February 28, 2007, we read: “Twelve-year old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday…A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him…If his mother had been insured…If his family had not lost its Medicaid…If Medicaid dentists were not so hard to find…”

Almost immediately after Mary Otto wrote these words in the Washington Post, Marylanders moved fast to expand access to dental care for child recipients of Medicaid, with the rest of the country quickly following suite. But a decade later, dental care remains inaccessible to many poor children and most poor adults. A decade later, adult dental care remains uncovered by Medicaid in Maryland. And the need is only growing.

On May 24, Health Care for the Homeless will co-host an event with oral health advocates and Mary Otto to discuss her new book Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health Care in America. The evening will feature a discussion about America’s dental care crisis - what led us here and where we go next.

Speakers:

• Mary Otto, author of Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health Care in America
• Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, Chief Health Officer, Health Care for the Homeless
• Laurie Norris, former Public Justice Center attorney 

RSVP by emailing peltonj@publicjustice.org.