March 3, 2007
Issue
On February 25, 12-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache in Maryland. A simple tooth extraction could have saved his life, but by the time he received medical attention a tooth infection had spread to his brain. Driver's family did not have private health insurance and their Medicaid coverage had expired. Even with Medicaid, many people have to travel several hours to find a dentist willing to treat them — just 900 of the state's 5500 dentists accept Medicaid patients. Figures show that fewer than one-third of children in Maryland's Medicaid program received any dental care during 2005.