Dental Care IS Health Care | Full Frontal on TBS

when it comes to our teeth we usually think two things one we should take care of them by brushing regularly and two how terrifying it would be if pigeons had them but of all the Gooch's and grundles that make up our dirty bodies few play a more central

role in our lives than teeth or even condition to base much of our self-esteem on them the first thing people notice is our smile maybe you don't put a nice smile on your checklist for popularity but it belongs there this is an all-american boy the girls are wild

about him until he smiles sure those Chiclets are a problem but as a woman I have to say he'll do ok with us because he is tall as sorry short things but as important as our teeth are they're barely an afterthought in America's never-ending health care disaster well

more than 27 million Americans lack general health insurance almost three times as many have no dental coverage at all even basic adult Medicare recipients are out of luck because it has limited coverage of dental hearing and vision hence its slogan who needs a working head we often treat

going to the dentist as a luxury which is crazy because dental care is health care gum disease is associated with gastrointestinal problems increased risk of cancer cardiovascular disease and the medical diagnosis stank mouth in addition to all the Americans who lack dental insurance there are also those who

have coverage but can't get treatment Medicaid patients often have a hard time because some states don't cover dental care while two-thirds of dentists won't even accept the programs low reimbursement rates which is terrible because everyone regardless of their ability to pay deserves to get buzzed on that awesome

gas at least once but David got hooked now he meals nitrous oxide for a cartel making matters worse 51 million Americans live in dental deserts low-income areas that dentists avoid in favor of wealthier neighborhoods where people have insurance in their defense the average dental school grad has to

pay off $300,000 in debt plus the cost of office phase staff and equipment I mean imagine owing all that money and still not being a real doctor the lack of access to dentists is a big problem for Americans obviously dental care is not something you should do why

as evidenced by this video [Music] that's not how you clean your teeth that's how a serial killer prepares for the hunt dentistry is profit driven business model also creates a problem of ethics to boost revenues some dentists are turning to so-called creative diagnosis I was hoping that my

dentist would draw me like one of his French girls but actually it means pushing unnecessary treatments ranging from root canals and gum grafts to expensive cosmetic procedures like teeth bleaching veneers and the always glamorous third row of teeth there's no easy way to fix all of the problems

in our dental care system but one part of the solution is dental therapists I know the term dental therapists sounds like someone who asks about your childhood well their whole fist is in your mouth but actually dental therapists are medically trained professionals they do many of the same

procedures as regular dentists while often casting patients less money and none of us have ever heard of them before that feels like a problem dental therapists are legal in only 11 states but even a trump administration report acknowledges there a cost effective and safe way to bring dental

care to people who desperately need it and the good news is absolutely no one is fiercely opposed to them I mean you're right the American Dental Association is fiercely opposed we don't understand why anyone would want a lesser trained individual dealing with these in that population if I'm

poor and I have a toothache you know half a dentist or 70% of a dentist is better than zero of course half a dentist is better than zero I mean unless it's the lower half nobody wants their dentists but poking around in their mouth except probably a Quentin

Tarantino he loves them feet the lobbying arm of bigtooth has spent millions to make sure dentists income isn't threatened by competition from dental therapists that's money they could be spending on helping patients upgrading their equipment and finally getting rid of all their nine-year-old copies of highlights magazine some

shitty kid did all the word jumbles in pen dentists may fear dental therapists as much as I fear drawings of teeth with their own smaller teeth but that doesn't mean they're gonna put them out of work any more than nurse practitioners put doctors out of work I promise

you America has enough messed up mouths to go around for everybody we just need to fix our healthcare system so everyone can have access to affordable treatment because not all of us can rely on being tall sorry again my short kings [Music] you