Gaps in Teeth and Care

One of the more odd right-wing arguments against improving the conditions of folks in poverty is the argument that poor folks aren't really that badly off, because most own VCRs, some own homes (mostly elderly poor who bought homes when not poor), and nearly all have air conditioning. Wow! Looks like economic growth took care of poverty, right? Wrong. A more relevant conception of poverty does not compare the living standards of the worst off today to those 100 years ago, but rather to the real needs of people today, including what is socially required. Philosopher and economic theorist Adam Smith articulated this point well when he described necessary goods (as compared to luxuries):

By necessaries I understand, not only the commodities which are indispensibly necessary for the support of life, but whatever the custom of the country renders it indecent for creditable people, even of the lowest order, to be without. A linen shirt, for example, is, strictly speaking, not a necessary of life. The Greeks and Romans lived, I suppose, very comfortably, though they had no linen. But in the present times, through the greater part of Europe, a creditable day-labourer would be ashamed to appear in public without a linen shirt, the want of which would be supposed to denote that disgraceful degree of poverty, which, it is presumed, nobody can well fall into without extreme bad conduct."

One of the many ways poverty shows itself today is through our teeth. The NY Times has an article today highlighting the effect of a lack of access to dental care in the State of Kentucky. And it highlights Adam Smith's point all too well:

"Dr. Smith said some people assumed that if their parents and grandparents lost their teeth before they were 40, they would too. They figure no teeth, no costly toothaches, so they pre-emptively pull them.

“Try finding work when you’re in your 30s or 40s and you’re missing front teeth,” said Jane Stephenson, founder of the New Opportunity School in Berea, Ky., which provides job training to low-income Appalachian women."

Lack of dental care can literally lead to death, and this problem is sadly found throughout the country (e.g. Seattle, Maryland, etc...), and is particularly devastating for poor children, who are least likely to have coverage and most likely to suffer from dental disease.