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Many persons with mental illness have more than average difficulty taking care of teeth. Since almost everything in life is harder for a mentally ill person compared to non-afflicted people, it follows that it is harder for us to have good oral hygiene.  

Medications also cause dry mouth, which can be bad for teeth. But what I really want to talk about is the disparity in dental care faced by disabled people who cannot afford to pay out of pocket for a dentist.  

While hypothetically you can blame bad teeth on the lack of care of the teeth's owner, not everyone has hereditarily good teeth, and some have taken excellent care yet still have dental problems. Furthermore, when someone has a period of acute symptoms of mental illness, tooth brushing during that time is usually out the window.  

Almost no dentists accept Medi-Cal for their work. Medi-Cal has a set of rules to save money that prevent any competent dentists (who can get customers otherwise) from wanting to deal with them. Medi-Cal will not pay for a small cavity which the dentist spots upon examination but which isn't big enough to show up on an X-Ray. It is rules like that, which defy common sense, that cause only bottom-of-the-barrel dentists and mass production dentists to accept Medi-Cal for their work.  

It is still a better situation than it was under Governor Schwarzenegger. His administration eliminated our dental benefits with the exception of emergency extractions. Under Brown, some benefits were restored.  

Not having a decent level of care for our teeth, which is something that can well be paid for, is nothing less than social cruelty. The physical pain of dental problems can be extreme. The disfigurement of having missing teeth is noticeable. And it will get us instantly branded as coming from a lower socioeconomic class.  

Our government on all levels is becoming increasingly cutthroat. At one time, we lived in a "kinder gentler nation." However, the politicians who have come into power are merciless and care about nothing other than personal prestige, money and status. You can't run a government like this. Not unless you want the U.S. to resemble Russia under president Putin. That's where we're headed if we are not careful. 

I know of several mentally ill people who have lost some or all of their teeth. This is due to a combination of bad circumstances. One of the biggest of these bad circumstances is the fact that most disabled people must use Medi-Cal to pay for a dentist rather than having a decent dental plan which would be paid for by a professional full-time job. This is another sad case in which for us, the good life is out of reach because we live with disabling conditions, and because it is a lot harder for a mentally ill person to get hired at a good job.  

The lack of dental care for disabled people is a symptom of the problem that is growing in the U.S., in which the rich are becoming fabulously richer, and the poor, in many instances, are subject to cruelty, incarceration, harsh conditions, and in some cases, dying off.