Dental Health. It’s a costly proposition and many people go without access. 126 Million of us are without insurance. Dental health is part of the National Health Plan. 92% of us have cavities, compared to 28% of Brits and even fewer Japanese. Fewer cavities means you keep your teeth longer. The Japanese have (of course they do) an art called hamigaki, the art of teaching children how to brush.

Why are we so disinterested in dental health? It’s one of our primary indicators of overall health and it’s wildly reflective of our body’s health. Yet go to any nursing home and you’ll not find a great emphasis on dental hygiene.

And in this country, it’s expensive. I had a tooth removed yesterday. By happy coincidence I will eventually be able to pay for it. But it took a while to help the surgeon understand that I couldn’t pay more for my tooth than the gnp of a small country. The next time, I may just have to lose the tooth. The cost of one implant is many times the cost of dentures. I get it, it’s hard work… but what’s good for our health?

In the meantime, although the surgeon was excellent and I had great care. OWWWWWWW. and nobody told me I wouldn’t be able to eat strawberries or go swimming.

I suspect that part of Peace is people’s access to health care. There’s work to do here. And guess which groups have the most access and which the least? That’s right racism and healthcare are like the cat and the dog — “no good friends”…