Nearer to a Nanny State?????

[Racket_Man]

Please note I did put question marks in the title

Penn. Parents arrested for kids rotten teeth

summery: parents were arrested in Bethlehem, Pa. 1. because the kids had not been to a dentist in over 2 years and 2. the kids teeth were allegedlly black green and rotten

According to the paper, Donna and John Grobelny stand charged with two felony counts each of endangering the welfare of children. Police slapped Donna Grobelny with four additional counts of reckless endangerment and John Grobelny with two additional counts of reckless endangerment

there are obviously 2 sides to this story.

first of all the stories I came across do not make reference to any "manditory" dental care law but I guess that child endangerment is as close as it will get for the moment.

second there are no pictures (that can go either way good or bad)

third they DID have dental coverage through the state assistance

Is this a case of bad parents and/or an overactive/overprotective "let's protect the children " state?????

[Greenday]

Green and black teeth.

"I didn't really think they were that bad."

I'm not really sure what to say after that. Sounds like a pretty clear case of child endangerment to me.

[Rapscallion]

It's cases like this where you need some form of nanny state. Those parents are supposed to be protecting the children and bringing them up healthily. If everything is as it's claimed, no only did they fail dramatically, but they have allowed a potential situation of continuous pain for their children for the rest of their lives.

A nanny state where, "OMG! A child saw a breast! Send in the SWAT teams and take them to foster care immediately!" is far too far, just as a comparison.

Of course, the news article isn't necessarily completely accurate. However, I can't fault the authorities if this is an accurate story.

Rapscallion

[Andara Bledin]

Knowing what it's like, as an adult, to have bad teeth, those parents really irk me.

The teeth are described as anything other than white or yellow and the parents "don't think it's that bad"?!?

These are a 9 and 7 year old... How horrifically non-existent must their dental hygiene have been for either of them to have any rotten teeth at all? I have weak enamel, and I only had one cavity by the time I was 12.

^-.-^

[blas87]

My parents would have been charged then, because neither my brother or I saw a dentist after early childhood (I had to have two baby teeth removed in kindergarten).

I didn't see a dentist again until I was 20 years old, with my own dental insurance.

I wouldn't doubt my parents had some form of dental insurance, because I have crap for insurance and I still get 2 free teeth cleanings and one free dental exam per year, that's bare minimum and I get that.

My parents themselves haven't seen the dentist in years, either.

I don't know how I've made it to 24 years old without a cavity, but I have. It's a damned miracle.

My brother really needs to get his own dental insurance because he SHOULD have had braces as a kid. Direly needed them.

[Andara Bledin]

Blas, I'm willing to bet your teeth could never have been described as anything like what these kids had, so nobody would have ever even thought of checking up on whether you'd gone or not, and thus they wouldn't have been charged.

I hardly saw a dentist as a kid, myself (not that it would have helped >_< ), and my teeth were still white. This isn't about not seeing a dentist - this is about parents not cleaning their kids' teeth at all.

^-.-^

[blas87]

I've been an OCD freak about my teeth for years.

My brother and my parents don't care as much as I do, but even their teeth aren't horrid.

I work with a few people that have rotten teeth. It sure is gross.

[Boozy]

I hardly saw a dentist as a kid, myself (not that it would have helped >_< ), and my teeth were still white. This isn't about not seeing a dentist - this is about parents not cleaning their kids' teeth at all.

Not necessarily.

My friend's two children have inherited their "father's teeth". Their baby teeth rotted and crumbled by the age of 10, and it didn't matter that she made them brush and floss twice daily.

Compare that to my own teeth, and that of my siblings. Like many young children, we avoided brushing at all costs. I know for a fact that the sneakier of us got away without it for weeks at a time. Not one of us have ever had a cavity. Ever.

Dental health is strongly inherited.

In this case a dentist was absolutely required. Those teeth should have been pulled before they started causing the kids' pain, and some sort of temporary dentures should have been made. You can imagine how horribly expensive this would have been. The article didn't say what the parents' finances were like.

[blas87]

I don't get why kids, or people in general avoid brushing their teeth. I think it feels awesome. I love brushing my teeth.

It doesn't do me any more good than anyone else, but if I'm at home, I brush my teeth after every soda I drink or every time I smoke.......it's almost compulsive. I have those little travel toothbrushes (you don't need water it's just got a little mint ball in the middle that bursts as you brush) if I'm gone for several hours. When I worked 12 hour shifts at work, I'd have to use one. I hate feeling fuzzies on my teeth.

That and I'm paranoid of them getting discolored.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

third they DID have dental coverage through the state assistance

Then why did they not make use of it?

Oh wait:

She also claimed she didn't take her oldest son to the dentist because he is severely autistic and becomes agitated whenever taken to a doctor.

In other words, she doesn't want to deal with him when he gets like that. But that doesn't explain the other child.

I really can't fault the authorities here.

[Aethian]

I don't get why kids, or people in general avoid brushing their teeth. I think it feels awesome. I love brushing my teeth.

It doesn't do me any more good than anyone else, but if I'm at home, I brush my teeth after every soda I drink or every time I smoke.......it's almost compulsive. I have those little travel toothbrushes (you don't need water it's just got a little mint ball in the middle that bursts as you brush) if I'm gone for several hours. When I worked 12 hour shifts at work, I'd have to use one. I hate feeling fuzzies on my teeth.

That and I'm paranoid of them getting discolored.

Promise me your not brushing hard and you are at least rinsing your mouth out with water before brushing them... Cause you could be helping them get discolored by brushing off all of the enamel and making the porous part of the tooth able to take in so much more of what ever your eating/drinking.

I read on one dental website that you should be lightly brushing your gums and just passing over the teeth so as to not wear away the enamel faster then it's already getting eaten away.

[blas87]

I don't brush hard and only use soft brissel brushes. I brush the teeth themselves for a while, but focus more on the gumlines and rotations around them, because that's where plaque builds up.

I also don't use much toothpaste. My dentist told me not to do like the commercials and fill the entire brush with paste, just use a pea size amount or less. More doesn't accomplish anything.

[IDrinkaRum]

My daughter is autistic (as most, if not all people on this board, know). I found a pediatric dentist that also deals with special needs patients. It wasn't hard. It's called research, talk to other parents of the kids in your autistic child's class.

My daughter doesn't brush her teeth per se. She chews the toothbrush and eats the little bit of toothpaste that's put on her brush.

*le sigh*

I try.

Reminds me ... I have to re-schedule her dental appointment.

[Aethian]

*nudges Rummy* These are what we used in a home of autistic's I worked at...

[Eisa]

Hmm. I don't like the idea of the state stepping in when it comes to dental care. But their teeth were so fucking bad, when they had dental coverage, there's really no excuse.

On the other hand, going to the extremes my dad did aren't good, either. I have gingivitis and I had it when I was a kid. [Turned out that the biggest reason I have it? Is 'cause I breathe through my mouth and it dries my gums out and makes them painful. NOT so much my brushing/flossing skills, although of course, those contribute.] So what he'd do would be to make me brush my teeth for literally hours. Until my gums bled because, you know, I was a kid in elementary school...forced to brush my teeth for hours until he said they were "good enough."

Which really sucked when I got fluoride tablets from the dentist and it turned out if you had too many as a child, it could discolor your teeth...