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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2013)
MARCH 15, 2013 U¡M| nm o f bad oral health P H O T O B Y C H R IS T O P H E R O N S T O T T measure on the May ballot, this issue has become more relevant than ever. While some see the fluoridation of the city’s water as a Big Brother- itting in a reclining chair in Multnomah esque move, forcing everyone to drink potentially County’s newest dental clinic for the first contaminated water, other residents see it as a time, Kenneth can’t help but smile. Despite for maintaining oral health in populations his crooked, gapped grin, he’s beaming today for necessity a who can’t afford dental treatment. chance to start afresh, a chance to take back years Regardless of where you stand on the issue of of dental neglect and to finally feel confident in the fluoridation, the issue of oral health is one that one thing that has found a way to negatively affect spans entire lives, affecting social, economic and every aspect of his life: his teeth. emotional development from grade school onward. “I’ve always been self-conscious of my smile,” he “I would visit Head Start programs in Portland says. “It hurts my confidence and my ability to be where more than half of the three-year-old kids myself. And what girls want to kiss a guy with have mouths filled with metal fillings,” says nasty teeth?” Nichole Maher, president of the Northwest Health Kenneth’s also dealt with years of oral pain from Foundation. “One of the main reasons kids would neglected abscesses and infections. But the skip school was for dental care, and for the physical consequences are not the sole threat of poor dental care. From job insecurity to inadequate uninsured, that usually meant a hefty emergency room bill.” education to crippling depression, insufficient oral According to a 2010 study by the Oregon health seems to be a slippery slope towards a Department of Human Services, 20 percent of range of life-altering issues. children had significant tooth decay in seven or With the controversial Portland pro-fluoridation BY ALEX ZIELINSKI S T A F F W R IT E R S more of their teeth. And a 2006 report by the same department found that 16,000 school hours were lost in Oregon due to dental pain in students and emergency visits to the dentist. Last year, the Pew Charitable Trust’s Dental Campaign compiled a report on the cost to states as people go to the emergency room with dental health care problems, shifting the expense onto Medicaid and other public programs. The report estimates that preventable dental conditions were the primary reason for 830,590 ER visits by Americans in 2009 - a 16 percent increase from 2006. In 2010, according to the report, the number of dental-related emergency visits by Oregon’s Medicaid enrollees was 31 percent higher than just two years before. That translates into tens of millions of dollars in emergency room charges. The American Dental Association has found that children with untreated dental disease have difficulty learning, they miss more school days than • Inside See OPEN W IDE, page 5 ■ ■ City looks to cut social safety net More than $25 million in cuts looming Page 3 Public Safety Rep. Jennifer Williamson talks reform Page 4 Growing up a Panther Aaron Dixon reflects on the civil rights movement Page 8
