Notes on the social crisis in America

[Donnachaidh]

http://wsws.org/articles/2011/aug2011/socr-a18.shtml

Thousands line up for free dental care in Georgia

Thousands of Georgians waited in line to see volunteer dentist teams at the First Baptist Church of Woodstock August 12 and 13. Many arrived on Thursday night and slept on the sidewalk.

“I have a couple of missing teeth and I need some extractions,” one woman told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. She explained that she had lost her job a couple of years ago and had gone without dental insurance since then. A University of Georgia student who had recently spent $3,800 on dental care explained, “I never got it finished—I couldn’t afford the rest of it—so I came to see if I could get the rest of it done.”

“The line went around the building, all the way through the parking lot and around a warehouse,” Atlanta dentist Richard Smith told the Journal Constitution. Smith estimated that at one point, 4,000 were in line. Over 1,600 volunteers, including 300 dentists, contributed to the effort.

Much more at the link --

[raccoon]

1. About a year ago, there was a free dental clinic in my city.

I bet very few people these days are lucky enough to have dental insurance.

Even if you are lucky enough, IME they don't pay 100% of everything.

Most of the time, if you want to keep your teeth until you are even middle-aged, you better have the do-re-mi.

[saras]

2. There's cheap clinics here, but there's no lining up out front - there's four-month waiting lists.

Of course, if your life isn't stable enough to schedule yourself four months in advance... let's just say they service the working poor more than they do the "poor" poor.