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Do You Know their NAME?
Do You Know their NAME?
The following are stories amplified by journalists. Through the NAME Project, we hope to gather and disseminate other narratives gleaned from the focus groups and interviews we conduct, which will be available in an open source database. We will also create a mechanism for others to upload their stories for inclusion in this database.
We hope this collection of stories will be useful to a variety of audiences including:
prospective patients and caregivers--to make decisions around their own health care choices
clinicians--to reflect on and develop ways to offer equitable care
health professional/dental schools--for curriculum development and training new providers
Alyce and Deamonte Driver. Photo credit: Linda Davidson/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Deamonte Driver
Deamonte Driver
In February 2007, twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache in Maryland. A simple $80 extraction for his tooth abscess was out of reach for his mother, Alyce. Although Alyce had Medicaid insurance, which covered Deamonte, she searched desperately for a provider who would accepted it, with no luck. Unfortunately, the bacteria spread to Deamonte’s brain, and he passed away. Deamonte and his mother are not alone in this struggle. According to the American Dental Association Health Policy Institute, in 2020 only 43% of all dentists in the U.S. Medicaid or CHIP (child dental services).
To learn more about Deamonte Driver's story, check out the book Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America by Mary Otto.
Kyle Willis
Kyle Willis
Kyle Willis, a 24-year-old man from Cincinnati, Ohio, died from a tooth infection. What started as a wisdom toothache developed into facial swelling and being a single father and unemployed left him with a choice of buying pain medication or antibiotics. He chose the pain medication. Although the pain had gone, the infection spread to his brain and caused it to swell. Willis passed away in August of 2011. His story has been shared by several news outlets.
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