Maine is 80% fluoridated: "More Mainers are looking for dental care in hospital emergency rooms due to lack of insurance."

"'I have drained abscesses on children as young as four years of age and had to admit patients to the hospital for life-threatening complications of dental infections because they were unable to get basic dental care,' she said."

"Covey and her staff are able only to provide antibiotics and symptom management. Because of this, these patients return repeatedly with recurring and worsening problems, she said. The financial numbers don't make sense, she explained, because emergency care is 10 times more expensive than preventive treatment."