Boy's Death Fuels Drives to Fund Dental Aid to Poor

"We need to seize the moment," said Temple Hills dentist Fredrick Clark, who has been involved in efforts to expand access in Maryland. "That story is the talk of the town."

It has brought calls for more parental responsibility, with some questioning whether Alyce Driver did enough to get her children to a dentist.

Alyce Driver did not know Deamonte had an abscessed tooth when she took him to the hospital for a headache in January. The infection from the tooth spread to his brain, requiring two operations at Children's Hospital and weeks of rehabilitation in another hospital.

But her younger son, DaShawn, 10, had a swollen cheek and complained often about his teeth. She said it took weeks to find a dentist who would accept Medicaid. Only about 900 of Maryland's 5,500 dentists accept Medicaid. Low reimbursement rates, bureaucratic hurdles and the frustrations of working with indigent families are cited as reasons for low participation.

Fewer than one-third of children in Maryland's Medicaid program received any dental services in 2005, the latest year for which figures are available from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The figures were even lower in Virginia and the District.

When DaShawn finally got to an oral surgeon in November, he was diagnosed with six abscessed teeth. An appointment to remove them in January was canceled after the family's Medicaid lapsed, apparently because paperwork was sent to the wrong address.

Since the Driver family's Medicaid was reinstated, DaShawn has had two of his bad teeth extracted. His mother remains concerned about the progress of his care.

Staff writers Lisa Rein, Ovetta Wiggins and Mary Beth Sheridan contributed to this report.