Kids often complain about their pain and frustrations. As adults we often neglect them and look to these as just trivial matters. It is natural for the older members of the family to get seriously ill. We do not really second guess when our grandparents complain about their health. But kids often get hushed if they cry or complain too much. This is one mistake that this young boy would hopefully rectify for you. Read about this unbelievable story when this young boy could not stop crying because of the pain he was feeling...
As a loving parent, what could be the worst thing to see? Well, on this list, seeing your kids cry would definitely be on the top of the list. To see your child coming home from school in tears would certainly be nothing to celebrate. This mother learned that her son's tears were because of the school dentist and so she was more than annoyed. She was not happy about her son wailing at all...
So her son came home one day and could not stop his tears from rolling down his cheeks. His poor mother was absolutely enraged because any mother would be irritated to see their kids come home crying from school. After asking him what the matter was, the boy explained what happened to him in school that day. She took a closer look inside her son's mouth and was appalled by what she saw...
To hear that the dentist working at her son's school had given him so much pain was clearly not something Shanda Flemming was happy to receive. She was residing with her son Michael (9) in Baltimore, Maryland. Her son was in the third grade at Beechfield Elementary School. He was one of the brightest students there and was well like by his peers as well.
Michael was doing quite well academically. But in the month of January, in the year 2017, all this would change when Shanda signed the permission slip allowing her son’s teeth to be cleaned by the local dentist. You would think that there was nothing to worry about, that everything would go as planned. But as luck would have it, things went downhill...
This school was well established and had produced several bright students too. They aimed to be an all-rounder school that took other activities into priorities too, not just focusing on studies and academics. According to the Baltimore Public School district, the school had been running an in-school dental program since 2007. And so far, things had always gone smoothly...
However, things took a turn for the worst as tragedy, unfortunately, struck an innocent boy. The program has received a lot of attention because of the fact that a young boy had died of a tooth infection. This was indeed a very bad rep for the school as death is, by all means, the worst thing that could ever happen to a student. Hence the school districts have offered dental services free of charge.
This incident was probably the worst thing that had ever occurred in this public school. The student who actually ended up losing his life at 12 years old was Deamonte Driver. His case of death was actually a simple tooth infection. There were also reports that claimed that, had the tooth been taken out using an $80 procedure, his death could have definitely been avoided.
This would have never been a problem but there were actually some issues that lead to this unfortunate happening. Due to the fact that his mother had no insurance and the operation was a little too costly, she could not afford to save her boy. So then, just because of these minor problems, a life, a young boy's life was lost. It was such a shock to anyone and everyone who had heard about it.
Driver's death was something that brought about some changes in the system that was followed. After Deamonte’s death, the state of Maryland started reforming how the dental care for children was being handled. The school made very drastic changes too. The Children’s Dental Campaign gave the state its approval and its praises. The changes made were done in the hopes that the conditions get better.
So after a student had lost his life because of money, the district made adjustments in the hope that the in-school intervention would result in something better. The deaths like Deamonte’s could hopefully be avoided now that they were reformed. Sadly for Shanda’s son Michael, these changes did not do any favors. In fact,they resulted in a serious complication.
On paper, the idea that the schools would organize these health programs was something that would delight any parent. Who would not want their kids to get health care for free in school? And so, initially, Shanda was grateful that the school gave free cleanings for the students. That day, she had no problem dropping Michael off to school for his dental check-up.
When the day went by, Shanda did not expect anything to go wrong. When it was time for her son to come home, she was expecting a happy kid who had a nice time at the dentists'. But what came home to her was something that all parents would not want. He got home with tears in his eyes, probing her to look in his mouth. There were 3 teeth missing from her son's mouth!
The boy was quite saddened to have lost 3 of his teeth during just one sitting with the dentist. Michael found it very embarrassing because he now had three huge and obvious gaps in his smile. And on top of all that, he was also in pain. Shanda was very unhappy with the fact that her son's school did not inform her about such a serious procedure they performed on her son.
Even though she had signed the permission slip, it had not mentioned the permission for teeth to be pulled out. Shanda strongly believed that she had the right to authorize such a serious procedure. For a mother who wanted what was best for her son, this was not a surprising reaction that Shanda had. She got so infuriated that she decided to speak to the local news about this.
Shanda was so disappointed in the way her son's school handled him that she wanted to speak out about it. She knew that this was immoral and that it should not be repeated. She turned to the local news, informing them of what has happened. She told the local news and Shanda explained that she thought the school handled the situation terribly, that this was a very wrong thing to do.
She expected the school to have been a little better with how they communicated things. Shanda would have liked to be informed about what they were going to do to her son. If her son had not come home with a swollen mouth and with tears, she would not have known about any of this at all. For the little boy, this had indeed been a very horrific experience.
When Shanda asked her son Michael about what they had done to him, she was stunned. He had informed her that the dentist that they were just going to clean his teeth, that there was nothing to worry about. He did not have a single clue that they were going to actually pull out three of his teeth. It was a sudden shock for him that ended up shocking his dear mother at home too.
Michael was not a fan of dentists to start with. So it had been double the horror for the poor boy. Since his mom reassured him that it was all going to be fine and signed the slip, he thought he had nothing to fuss about. But the mother and son soon learned that they were both wrong. Shanda revealed that her boy could not stop crying when he got home that day. The terror did not stop.
For a young boy to have gone through this without his mom by his side, just imagine how terrified little Michael must have felt. And to his mother's dismay, Michael's bad day did not stop there. Because of the procedure, Michael had to go through, he actually ended up missing the bus that was supposed to take him home. He was truly unlucky that day.
So what was a young boy to do when the school bus that was supposed to take him home had already left? Well, this meant that Michael had to walk about a mile from school back to his house, suffering from the swollen mouth and pain. He rushed home and walked as fast as he could to tell his mom about the day he had. To say that Shanda was not pleased would certainly be an understatement.
To hear about her son being put in such a traumatizing situation, pulling 3 of his teeth had already given Shanda enough to get mad about. But after learning about her son walking home alone definitely made her angrier. She could not wait to give the school a piece of her mind as this was to her an unacceptable treatment. Would you be feeling the same way Shanda felt?
Shanda was furious to hear from her son that he had actually walked all the way home from his school with his aching mouth. She was very disappointed by the fact that the school failed to inform her about her son's situation, that he had to walk home alone, where anything could have happened to him. So many of the inquiries she had needed to be answered...
CBS Baltimore had documented various interviews for the story of Michael and Shanda. From this, it was very clear that there was a lot of questions that the unhappy mother had regarding how the school handed the whole dentist situation that day. How come they pulled 3 teeth out of her son with his mother’s permission? Also, how did they let him walk home alone after?
Like we had mentioned, Shanda was appalled by the school's decision to commit such a serious medical procedure on Michael. And she was all the more shocked to learn that they not only took out one but THREE teeth! And without even giving him any pain medication! So did the school district react to the situation that had taken place at the public school?
When Shanda took to the media to speak about her son's experience, you would think about she would get to have a clear explanation. But the school and the district made a decision to refuse to have a comment or a response about the situation. They claimed to have a fear of breaching privacy and health insurance laws so they did not speak up.
If you had been put in a situation such as this, how would your reaction be? Would you want to have an explanation like Shanda? If your kids had gone through a serious medical procedure like Michael, how would you feel? Do you think the mother deserved an explanation? After the school did not handle the situation nicely, the mother should have gotten some answers, right?
When the school district was questioned, they maintained that Shanda had already signed and returned the permission slip for her son's dental work in school. But on the other hand, Shanda claims that she signed the slip solely because she agreed to routine teeth cleaning. She was not at all expecting that her son's teeth would be pulled out.
So the school did not believe that they did anything wrong, claiming that all they did was perform a procedure that would benefit Michael's dental health. As a matter of fact, Michael already had a dental appointment scheduled the following week. He was supposed to have a meeting with the family dentist where his mother could have been there to accept or decline procedures.
Even though Michael’s mouth had slowly started healing, the fear remains in him. It was indeed a traumatizing and tiring day for the young school kid who did not expect any of that to happen. To have 3 of his teeth plucked out in one go was excruciating and terrorizing. He went in expecting a mere dental cleanse but got so much more.
We hope that no parent has to go through what Shanda went through. A kid must always have a parent beside them to make sure that they do not feel scared or alone. Michael was scarred for life but we sincerely hope that with time he gets better. We hope he does not keep the fear of dentists in him, that his teeth grow perfectly and healthily, that his experience was worth it...
You can keep your child from getting tooth decay by starting his dental care early. Follow these steps to prevent cavities and keep his beautiful smile healthy.
You must make sure that your child has visited a dentist before having a first birthday. Early preventive care will be wise for your pockets in the years to come. A CDC report reveals that the cost if 40% lower over a 5-year period if the child sees a dentist before reaching age 5. So if you want to avoid rushing to the dental chambers in the future, we suggest you go early.
Brushing is important from the start. Always make sure that you brush your child's teeth, imbibe in them this habit so that their gums and teeth are strong. A child should use infant toothbrush and fluoridated toothpaste twice a day when they start growing teeth. Also, always floss their teeth as this cleans up all the tricky spots. Flossing and brushing should be a habit.
Never let your baby sleep with a bottle of juice, formula, or milk. Sugary liquids cling to the teeth, feeding bacteria that can easily result in tooth decay. Therefore, in order to avoid this hassle, always feed your baby with plain water to makes sure no decay is caused.
While the majority of parents presume that juice strengthens and is healthy for the baby, there is a catch. It can easily lead to tooth decay. You should cut down their intake to about 4 ounces a day of 100% fruit juice. Let them have non-sugary drinks and foods at mealtimes. Using juice as a treat is a very sensible way of going about it too...
A sippy cup can actually lead the kid to graduate from using a bottle to using a glass. Make sure the baby does not drink from it the whole day long. They can actually lead to the decay of tooth especially if the baby is drinking sugary juices.