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Your Call: Dental inequality in the US

Free Topeka dental clinic

Over 100 million Americans have no dental insurance -- and that number could grow if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. In her new book Teeth, veteran health journalist Mary Otto takes readers on a disturbing journey into America’s silent epidemic of oral disease.

She details the hidden connections between tooth decay and stunted job prospects, low educational achievement, social mobility, and the troubling state of our public health. Why isn't oral disease and dental insurance part of the health care debate? What will it take to get politicians and the media to focus on this growing crisis?  

Guest:

Mary Otto, oral health topic leader for the Association of Health Care Journalists, and author of Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America 

Web Resources:

New Republic: The Devastating Effects of Dental Inequality in America

The NY Times: The Tooth Divide: Beauty, Class and the Story of Dentistry

The Guardian: How can a child die of toothache in the US?

Sacramento Bee: I put their power right up there with the NRA’: Dental lobbyists bare their teeth

CALmatters: Dental lobby prevails again: Grieving parents shelve Caleb’s Law rather than dilute it

Rose Aguilar has been the host of Your Call since 2006. She became a regular media roundtable guest in 2001. In 2019, the San Francisco Press Club named Your Call the best public affairs program. In 2017, The Nation named it the most valuable local radio show.