I was riding the bus in a sideways seat, and couldn’t help looking at an old, white bum with a toothache, in the opposite sideways seat. The whole ride, he never screamed or even moaned, but he was physically miserable, constantly making new faces of pain, grimacing and then regrimacing. Never knew the human face could show pain in so many different expressions.
Let’s go wildly into conjecture and suppose that a homeless man in America probably doesn’t have dental insurance. Maybe there’s a charity that pulls teeth without charging, but I imagine actually getting onto the waiting list would be like, well, pulling teeth. That man’s going to be miserable for a while.
“Hey, dude,” I said. “You want something for the pain?”
He nodded, and I fumbled around in my backpack and offered him four illegal pills from my stash of eight. As I handed ’em over, he tried to smile a thank you, and I noticed his eyes were wet, teary. Of course.
I asked him, “Do you know anyplace that can help?”
He shook his head no, and I shrugged because neither do I. If there is some secret charity for pulling teeth, it was 7PM on a Saturday and there’s no way they’d be open before Monday.
Through my 20s and 30s, I had lots of killer toothaches like the bum on the bus, but lucky me, I haven’t needed a tooth pulled in thirty years. These days my toothaches are always mild, and I can chase ’em away by brushing ferociously and swallowing a few pills from my stash.
My easygoing toothaches aren’t because of healthy teeth — good cripes, no. My mouth is rotten, my teeth are piss yellow, and my breath is horrid. My toothaches have gotten milder because most of the nerves in my teeth and gums are basically dead. That’s my dental coverage.
When I came home from my bus jaunt, I looked up which countries have free dental care for their citizens: Austria, Mexico, Poland, Spain, and Turkey. Countries with free dental insurance covering most of the cost: Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Japan, Luxembourg, Norway, Panama, Philippines, Romania, Sweden, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
Here in America, richest country in the world, our national policy on most things is Fuck You.
3/12/2025
Leave a Reply