7 year old dies because our country is too cheap to put our children ahead of material things and pork barrel projects.

clipped from http://www.playfuls.com/news_005160_Twelve_Year_Old_Boy_Dies_From_Abscessed_Tooth.html The death of a 12 year old boy in the US has highlighted a glaring gap in the health care system that is affectively shutting off dental coverage to millions of Americans. Deamonte Driver died from a tooth infection that spread into the brain, because his mother didn't have health insurance to pay for a visit to the dentist. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry expressed their deepest condolences to the family of 12-year-old Maryland boy. According to AAPD Deamonte Driver's death point to a complete system breakdown. Major improvements need to be made so that more children will not fall through the cracks. Although Deamonte Driver is a rare case, many children are at-risk. The mouth, as a part of the body, has long been ignored. Indeed, when dental problems go untreated innocent victims suffer the unfortunate consequences. more than nine million children have no medical insurance, and the number grows even higher for those without dental insurance.

Amen.