After reading The Painful Truth About Teeth article I started thinking about all the privileges I actually do have. I have dental insurance through my mom. I had braces, I went to the dentist anytime something was wrong, and I never really had to worry too much about it. Not only just the dentist but also the doctors as well. Our insurance covered most anything that was happening with me and reading this article made me realize how many people do have to worry about things like dental insurance.
In this article, it talked about hundreds of people waiting in line outside in the bitter wind. What all these people were in line for was dental care. The first 1,000 people in line would get their teeth fixed from dentists from five different states. These volunteer dentists pulled 795 teeth within two days. Lots of the patients had good jobs too! Which shocked me because even these people with regular jobs did not have dental insurance and didn’t have enough money for dental work because of how costly it is.
Matello, was a small business owner who had no dental insurance, yet thankfully got her molar fixed at this volunteer dental work event. She talks about her support for Donald Trump because he talked about the forgotten people whose voices are not heard, such as the working class. After Trump was elected, he was supporting a health care plan that did not help low-income and the elderly at all. It even showed that some of these people who do have coverage will lose it. Trump talked about helping the lower-class citizens of America to get their votes, yet they still have no voice. Who’s listening to them and trying to fix the world to help these people? These people voted for Donald Trump to be our president because he said he would give them a voice. Yet here are all these people with no help. Dental insurance is just one of the examples.
Thinking about how someone had a cracked molar and had no dental insurance, therefore forcing her to chew on one side of her mouth for YEARS is crazy. Because this lady did not have dental insurance she lived for years with pain in her mouth. Thinking about how many other people are probably also living with pain like this lady is incredibly horrifying. I could not imagine living for years with pain like that. I have the privilege to walk into a dentist office and pay a co-pay of a few dollars and be able to have straight, white, and healthy teeth. Many Americans, like me, have this same privilege but reading this article made me realize how many people don’t have this option as well. They do not have the option to have healthy teeth. These people have no way to get these options until someone steps up and makes changes.
In this article, there was a very interesting point made about how the wealthier Americans spend over 1 billion every year just to make their teeth white, while there are Americans who cannot even afford dental work. Hardly any Americans have a real tooth left after 65 years old. Usually having perfect straight white teeth is associated with being wealthy. Most people on tv and other famous people all have perfect teeth. You will most likely not see any famous wealthy people with crooked or yellow teeth. Trump for example has perfect teeth. Yes, some people are born with perfect teeth, however, most people have to have some dental work done throughout their lifetime. I would make the assumption that our president has most likely had dental work done and I would assume he had dental insurance being that he is such a wealthy man. He had the privilege to have dental insurance and end up with perfect teeth and I am sure he has amazing health insurance too. Trump and many other people in America have these privileges yet they just sit there and don’t try to help the people who do not have these advantages. Just because you are privileged why shouldn’t you help other people have the same privileges as you? I personally feel very grateful for the insurance that I have. I have had lots of medical issues and I also had braces and had teeth fixed. I know that not everyone has the same privileges and I feel grateful for having them. If I had the chance to somehow help the people who don’t have these options I would. I’m not sure how much change an 18-year-old, college student can make but if I had a chance to help, I 100% would. But the wealthy, famous people who could make a change just sit there and don’t help. Trump and many other people in the government should be concerned about the lower class and trying to help them. The lower class in America should not be forgotten and the people who have the power to give them a voice should do exactly that and give them a voice.
In the book we read, Zone One by Colson Whitehead, it was talked about that the rich were the ones who tended to escape. They took all their possessions that they could and escaped. A lot of the poor had to stay and try to block their doors and windows to stay safe. Which then led to them being infected with no choice. Some people couldn’t leave, and some people wouldn’t have enough money to go anywhere else, so they had no choice but to stay. Just like with natural disasters the low-class people don’t have the means to leave. They were stuck with no choice. The low-class Americans have no choice with insurance either. Even in this fiction book, these people have no choices and are stuck in these situations because they don’t have enough money. They don’t deserve to be abandoned in a “zombie” apocalypse, they don’t deserve to live for years with a tooth ache, they shouldn’t have to wait in a line out in the cold to finally have their teeth fixed for free. So, who’s going to finally take a big enough step and change life for these people? They deserve to have a voice and they deserve change.