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Several weeks ago a young man volunteered to serve in the US Army and came to me for his qualifying physical. He was a young guy of 18 perfect age to serve our country and I was excited to see him. We need all the help we can get.
He was sitting in our drab waiting area and as I approached him and extended my hand he extended his his, but put his left hand in front of his mouth. I saw the smile in his eyes, but I missed any movement of his lips as they were hiding behind his hand.
I ignored it, but the gesture was sealed into my brain. I sat with him for 10-15 minutes and asked the required health questions. All the time he talked through his fingers without showing his mouth.
I asked him to sit up on the exam and began the exam. He kept his mouth covered while I examined his eyes, ears, and nose. Then I asked him to open him mouth so I see his teeth, gums and throat. Slowly he removed his hand and placed it cautiously by his side.
“Where did you grow up?” I asked.
“North Carolina, but I live in Alabama now.”
“On a farm?”
“Yep,”
“Have your own well?”
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“I’m sure you know you have terrible teeth. Well, most cities have fluoride in their water which prevents tooth decay.”
“Yeah, I ate too much candy when I was living with my mom, she didn’t like to cook.”
“Sorry about that, but that’s only a small part of the problem. I used to see lots of kids with teeth like yours, then cities started adding fluoride to their water and the whole teeth-world changed. Hardly any farm wells have natural occurring fluoride but, it’s essential for building good teeth.”
We talked more as I finished the exam filled out his papers and told him the bad news.”The military requires that you have no more than 8 badly decayed teeth. I can’t find one good tooth in your mouth. You have to have your mouth fixed up before you can join.”
“How can I do that, I don’t have a job, we don’t have insurance that will cover it, and I talked with a dentist and he said it would cost about ten thousand dollars to fix them.”
Many university dental schools provide free dental care requiring only that the patient pays the cost of the materials needed for the restorations. This man will need complete upper and lower dentures. Even at the reduced price they will still be expensive but he will be able to join the army and use his left hand for better things than covering his rotting teeth. The dental students will do the work under the direct supervision of licensed dentists who have been carefully chosen because of their excellence. “I wish there were more that I could have done.
But, there are somethings we all can do. 1)If you know someone who lives on a farm tell them the state health department will check their water for natural fluoride and if is lacking recommend supplemental fluoride. 2) If you know of cities or town that do not add fluoride to their water start a campaign to get it added. 3) If you know anyone who thinks fluoride is “poison” or a Communist plot, and are providing “pure” water for their kids and themselves, show them these pictures!
Friends won’t let their friend drink un-fluoridated water.
But, there is something we can all do. If you know someone who provides “pure” water for their kids because the
Note: Neither of these pictures are of the candidate’s mouth; we are not allowed to photograph them at MEPS. Let me assure his mouth was worse than the pic above. but not as bad as the one on the side.