Maryland boy, 12, dies after bacteria from tooth spread to his brain

Maryland boy, 12, dies after bacteria from tooth spread to his brain

Source Link: www.msnbc.msn.com

Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.
A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.
If his mother had been insured.
If his family had not lost its Medicaid.
If Medicaid dentists weren't so hard to find.
If his mother hadn't been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.
By the time Deamonte's own aching tooth got any attention, the bacteria from the abscess had spread to his brain, doctors said.

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Man this is just heartbreaking. 80 dollars worth of preventative care and he wouldnt be dead. We have serious need for healthcare reform in this country. Any system where only the wealthy get access to preventative care is seriously flawed.

If the American people wanted socialized health care they would reflect that wish when they go to the polls. The people of the United States would tell their elected officials how important it was to them to have health care if they wanted it, wouldn't they

Obviously they don't care if children die from something totally preventable.
The American people have a cancer growing in their society that will eat them from the inside out, and they don't seem to care.


I guess they'll reap what they sow eventually.

This is really saddening. And it’s too late to realize that thing like this one should have been given more attention. Losing someone dear to you in a preventable circumstance is even more painful

Before I say this, let me say that I do feel bad for the family, losing is a child is a pain I never want to feel.

On the other hand it must be said these kids needed better care. They should've been brushing their teeth properly. I started a thread a few days ago about the obese kid who was going to be taken away from his parents because of impending illness (he didn't even have the illnesses yet, he was just obese). These kids had rotten teeth, not only did they have poor healthcare, they had poor hygeine because they were not properly cared for or taught to brush. Something is wrong with the healthcare system yes, this does need to be addressed but so does the issue that is really at hand, the parents of these kids. I do feel bad, but the parents have to take responsibility as well. You can't just blame healthcare. If I didn't have adequate insurance I would make sure I was doing the necesary steps to prevent the problem. This does not sound like the case here. Sure we all may get cavaties occasionally, but we don't typically have 6 rotting teeth in our mouths.

I must stop here due to all the negative responses I will already recieve from my opinion.

[edit on 2/28/2007 by dirty_underground]

dirty_underground - It's neither accurate nor productive to blame the victims.

FYI - Our world is now full of antibiotic resistant bacteria, anti-viral resistant viruses, a host of new disease hybrids - and never-seen-before new diseases. For which we have no immunity, no cures, and no treatments.

And which are commonly spread in hospitals.

The important questions are, "What particular bug and strain killed this child? Whwn was he infected? Why did he degenerate from okay and responsive to dead?"

A bit of context and background:


Scientists Map Genome of Bacteria Killing U.S. Troops

The Perfect Microbial Storm

Pandemic Watch 2007

Superbug Epidemic in US

I am well aware of superbugs.

FYI people have been dying from abscess teeth since before the Middle Ages (long before Superbugs). This due to lack of oral hygeine! I am not denying this healthcare system is poor and should be dealt with immediately, I am also not going to sit back while we all blame the poor healthcare system for things are preventable (abscess teeth). These children are not being taken care of properly. To deny this is to deny these children a healthy life.

Its terrible that a child has died, however stop and think about the immediate flinch to socialized answers to this problem. Is it right for everybody to foot the bill for those who will not help themselves first? Yes some people in bad situations would get aid however we all know every well the vast majority of money in a socialized health care plan would simply go to the lazy and unmotivated who would rather sit around sucking up our money via health care rather than getting a job taking care of things themselves.

@ soficrow

So its excusable that the parents didn't enforce proper hygiene practices upon their children then? Aren't they responsible for the welfare of their children? Sure a trip to the dentist might be pricey but a cheap toothbrush and some bottom shelf tooth paste long before hand could have went miles to preventing this situation...

this same thing happened to my dad, and he almost died as well, except he was admitted to emergency in time. could this woman not have gone to a doctor? im not saying she would have known she needed to go, it could have been just a mistake.

if my dad had continued sleeping the night, and not woke up gasping for air, he would have died as well, the absess spread into his throat was swelling up his air passage, just because the dentist messed up pulling an tooth over an absess. #ty luck, i think the same can be said for this woman, only it didn't turn out as fortunate.

Sad story.

I wasn't aware this type of death could occur

Wouldn't the child of been in incredible pain from this? Does this type of thing happen suddenly or is it a something that takes time to occur?

I'm not going either way due to not being in that position, but if the child was suffering from this exposure for a period of time, that would institute some type of action.

Originally posted by Helig

So its excusable that the parents didn't enforce proper hygiene practices upon their children then? Aren't they responsible for the welfare of their children? Sure a trip to the dentist might be pricey but a cheap toothbrush and some bottom shelf tooth paste long before hand could have went miles to preventing this situation...

Don't forget that the family was poor and half of the time homeless. Perhaps they didn't always have access to water. Or they didn't have enough money to buy the toothbrush and toothpaste (everytime the toothpaste was finished).

Brushing teeth doesn't prevent cavities 100% of the time. Nor will it prevent an infection if someone has a cavity which hasn't been properly addressed. I brush my teeth all the time, yet it didn't prevent a filling from popping out. It took couple years to find a dentist willing to see someone without fancy insurance (most places even hung up on when I said either I had medicaid or no insurance). By then my whole jaw was absessed. I am on my 3rd round of antibiotics. I had to have a root canal done on that tooth. Had one of these local dentists just saw me and stuck another filling in the tooth it would never have gotten so bad. And during those 2 years I was trying to find a dentist who'd see me, I brushed my teeth and used mouthwash and floss.

Eleven years ago when I was living in a car, I didn't always have access to brush my teeth somewhere. I wasn't even able to eat every day. I tried the best I could though. I ended up with 12 cavities back then.

If someone is malnurished, which homeless people often are, they're not getting the proper nutrients to their teeth. From the lack of nutrients comes tooth decay.

Cavities cannot always be prevented, but with proper attention paid to them via dentist visits, infection can be prevented. If you're poor though the medical profession cannot hang up on you or slam the door in your face fast enough.

Just my 2 cents, but I had a tooth pulled a couple of years ago and it cost 150$, not 80$.
Also, Im not a dentist, but isnt an abscess tooth different than a cavity?

Jessica, I feel for you. I have been without any form of health/dental care most of my life, and its not always just a matter of 'brushing your teeth' as some would have you believe.

Originally posted by 11Bravo
Just my 2 cents, but I had a tooth pulled a couple of years ago and it cost 150$, not 80$.
Also, Im not a dentist, but isnt an abscess tooth different than a cavity?

Jessica, I feel for you. I have been without any form of health/dental care most of my life, and its not always just a matter of 'brushing your teeth' as some would have you believe.

A cavity is an open wound for infection to get in. Abscess is infection. You can get infection in your jaw or tooth from any open wound.

The filling would probably have been about $80. A simple filling when the boy first got the cavity would've saved his life.

You know, that's crazy. I have my own story to relate to this. Let me start off by stating that tomorrow, I am going to an oral surgeon to have my wisdom teeth cut out. It's rather ironic that this story is coming out at the same time that I am having my surgery.

About, a month and a half ago, my bottom left wisdom tooth started hurting me tremendously. I really didn't think much of it given that I have dealt with this pain periodically, about once every 3-4 months, for several years now. Anyway, I woke up the next morning and my whole jaw was swollen up. It looked like someone had balled up their fist and placed it in my mouth. I knew that it had to have been the infected wisdom tooth. So I went to the dentist and he basically told me that I could no longer circumvent the fact that I was going to have to have my wisdom teeth cut out or face continuous problems with them. So, Tomorrow, 10:30 a.m. central time, I will be going under the knife to have this little problem alleviated.

[edit on 1-3-2007 by SpeakerofTruth]

I remember when I had my wisdom teeth removed.

We'll discuss that after your procedure is over. I do not want to scare you.

Stock up on soft foods now. You won't want to be chewing for the first few days.

Originally posted by Jessicamsa
I remember when I had my wisdom teeth removed.

We'll discuss that after your procedure is over. I do not want to scare you.

Stock up on soft foods now. You won't want to be chewing for the first few days.

Yeah, they told me that I might want to have jello and such around at least for a couple of days. I don't suspect that aftermath is going to be something I am going to enjoy for a few days. They have told me that there can be swelling and such... The biggest thing after such a procedure are dry sockets and such, which can be a major pain in the rump, or mouth. However you want to put it. Jessica, I certainly don't want to hear your story right now. I am already a bit anxious about it.

Just want to say this was a sad, sad story. I'm fortunate to have a dentist who allows me and my family a payment plan for our dental needs.
I also want to say it is not always a matter of brushing your teeth, while preventative care is essential some people have a propensity to have bad teeth. I was tortured with them for years, filling after filling and then root canals and then caps and then the caps would have problems, like falling off continually, or the root would degrade and a post would have to be implanted, on and on, for thirty-seven years until my husband said get a plate. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.
A solution, perhaps we could foot the education bills of graduates who then will commit to community service for a number of years. Not only would these young professional gain experience, they would probably see a multitude of clients with diverse needs. Exempt them from malpractice, set up an oversight group which would be pick the best and the brightest to partake in this program. I know there are programs like this for teachers, nurses and probably doctors and dentists too, but they have to be promoted. Educators and parents would have to step up and find out about these programs and give their children an opportunity to enroll. I'm amazed that we can just set back and let people fall through the cracks and then we are all horrified that something like this happens. I've been guilty myself, but if I can help just one person it is my responsibility to try.

Figuratively speaking this is a hard situation to deal with. Knowing that if you vote for subsidised health coverage that some rich pompous clergymen or congressman/woman will want to be exempt for taxation in such subsidised care. I understand people blame this on American citizens, but it's not our fault, our votes do not count anymore. It depends on who had more money, that is how you get things done in America. This is why Rome fell and this is why Greece fell...rich hipocrates and greed!

Originally posted by Grailkeeper
Wouldn't the child of been in incredible pain from this? Does this type of thing happen suddenly or is it a something that takes time to occur?

I can only go by personal experience. I woke up one day and couldn't open nor shut my mouth because of my jaw. An infection (which I had no idea I had) had spread to the jaw bone. It almost went to the brain. Luckily, I got the medications in me quick and stopped the spread. It was one of the most painful things I've experienced. So, I'd say yes, the child had to be in pain.