America’s Dental Health Is in Trouble

Not long ago, Dr. Suzanne Fournier saw a 16-year-old patient with a swollen face and difficulty breathing. Fournier, a dentist who practices at an urban hospital in Louisiana, had to extract six of the teen’s teeth; he was eventually intubated and admitted to the intensive care unit because his airways had closed up.

He survived, but Fournier is worried that there will be more children like him across the country who could come close to death because of the state of their oral health.