I don't understand it at all. The man that I take care of in his home hasn't been able to eat very well because his bottom teeth have been hurting him. He can't go to a dentist to have them extracted and get a denture made because Medicare doesn't cover dental care and he can't afford it. WTF? Why not? Oral health is very important to a person's overall health. The infection from a severely abscessed tooth can travel straight to a person's heart potentially killing them. Because of the of dental care he only weighs 114 pounds right now because he can't eat and he's weak and frail.
I even looked up the dental coverage in his Medicare book and it's listed under the huge DOES NOT COVER list.
Guess what? He fell last night and broke his hip. You can break your hip in 3 different spots and his broke in the worst possible spot it can break, at the bottom of the ball joint. Now he has to have complete hip replacement surgery, if he survives the surgery.
Now, had he been able to have proper dental care, he would have been able to eat better, he wouldn't have been so weak, he wouldn't have lost so much weight and maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't be in the position he is in now. Stuck in a hospital bed, with an IV running in his arm, an oxygen tube stuck in his nose, awaiting major surgery.
My theory is that it would have cost the government a whole lot less for this man to have the proper dental care he needed in the first place as opposed to having a $50,000.00 hip put in him. Not to mention the cost of the doctors, hospital, rehabilitation and/or possible LTC placement which he may end up requiring. Not to mention all the pain and suffering he has to endure. It's an extremely high price to pay because Medicare won't cover dental expenses.
The cost and pain endured from a few teeth extractions and a bottom denture pale in comparison to a broken hip.
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