Assignment Pick

Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America by Mary Otto

A while back, I started getting these bad dreams where I would watch helplessly as my teeth tumbled from my mouth like loose coins. In these nightmares I would stand there in front of some fun-house mirror, staring in horror at my gaping mouth, my red gums.

What do I do, now? I would wonder. Do I go get dentures? I’m too young for dentures, aren’t I? Do I stop smiling? Stop talking? Start handing out cards with my name printed on them like an Ellen Jameson?

One of my biggest fears—besides going blind or getting hit by a bus while crossing the street because I’m bopping along to headphones and therefore not paying any attention—is losing my teeth. I am more scared of that than Cancer. Because my insurance covers cancer. I think. And I personally know someone who has spent nearly eighty grand to get that perfect smile.

And it was with these thoughts and worries rattling me that I picked up Studs and Ida Terkel Prize-winning author Mary Ottor’s extensive exploration of America’s Dental System, Teeth.

In it, Ottor traces the long history of dental care in this country, why it isn’t grouped together with most health insurance plans, and the myriad hardships this creates. She takes us through infuriating tales of people suffering with tooth decay and loss and the ways bad dental care has affected their lives—more ways than perhaps you may have considered. A sobering look at how our system again lets many poor and working-class people down.

—WL