Dental Care

Times are tough enough for Californians; they're even tougher for Californians' teeth. "One-quarter of all adults and 28% of children in California have untreated dental caries [cavities]," says Len Finocchio, a senior program officer at the California Healthcare Foundation, a health advocacy group. "Our research tells us that many people in California have been avoiding routine care that might have cost about $100 for a checkup and cleaning, and then find themselves in the emergency room, where they get only an antibiotic, a bill that can average over $600 and instructions to see a dentist."

Have a toothache in Alpine County? Tough luck. There are no active dentists there, making it the most underserved dental population in California, according to a report released Thursday by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. The 700-square-mile mountainous region is one of several counties with severe dentist shortages. San Benito and Inyo counties have less than one dentist per 5,000 people; Imperial and Colusa counties have less than one dentist per 4,000.

The free medical clinic at the Forum reached capacity again Wednesday, as hundreds camped out overnight to receive medical and dental care. The sponsoring organization continues to seek volunteers, including oral surgeons and dental and optical technicians. Volunteers are asked to bring a valid medical or dental license; all supplies are provided. Nonmedical volunteers are also needed, according to the group's Twitter feed, including those who stand in line as place holders for patients waiting for multiple services.

One person died and at least 72 others were sickened by allergic reactions to denture cleaners, sometimes because of misuse of the products, U.S. regulators said Monday. The Food and Drug Administration blamed a bleach called persulfate, an allergen used in most denture cleansers, according to notices posted on the agency's website. The agency urged doctors and patients to be aware of the symptoms of an allergic reaction and to use the cleansers as directed.

Older adults in Los Angeles County are severely lacking dental insurance and many have cut back on oral healthcare because they cannot afford it, according to a broad new survey of men and women age 60 and older released this week. Of almost 16,500 older residents polled by city and county agencies on aging, nearly two-thirds said they had inadequate or no dental insurance, nearly 20% said they lacked affordable dental care and almost a third had not had a dental exam in three years.

Dr. Diana Zschaschel leaned over Boogie's wheelchair to check his teeth with a mirror and probe. Boogie wailed. "It's OK, Boogie," said his father, Vergery Grubbs Sr. He reached over to take his son's curled hand. "Keep your mouth open. You're doing a good job." For the elder Grubbs, this was the easy part. The challenge had been finding a dentist willing to treat his namesake, who is 13 but looks half that age. Dubbed "Boogie" because music makes him laugh, Vergery Grubbs Jr.

Kindergartners and first-graders who haven't seen a dentist in the last year have until May 31 to get a checkup under a new state law requiring an oral screening within the first year of entering California public schools. The law is "a baby step in the right direction" in fighting tooth decay, a chronic disease that afflicts more children than the better-known epidemics of asthma and obesity, said Wynne Grossman, executive director of the nonprofit Dental Health Foundation.

Dressed in sweaty surgical scrubs and grappling with a screaming 6-year-old girl as he pulled her abscessed tooth, dentist Jason Vogt didn't look the part of a diplomat. But the U.S. military reservist from Lincoln, Neb., was helping Uncle Sam score points in a high-stakes goodwill campaign playing out across Latin America in poor towns like this one.

GUSTAVO RODRIGUEZ had expected numerous physical exams and blood tests before checking into the hospital last July for a long-awaited kidney transplant. But he was bewildered when told to see a dentist. "My gums were really bad, but I didn't know that mattered," says Rodriguez, 26, of Long Beach. "They said I had to be bacteria-free before my surgery. I learned a lot ... like every little thing in your body counts." And as doctors and dentists now suspect, gum disease is no little thing.