WATERLOO — Katlynn Quitevis struggled to quickly find a selfie in her phone’s camera roll but now with new teeth, she expects her phone to be filled with them.
Quitevis, 26, received new front teeth from a free dental clinic in Waterloo provided by Iowa Mission of Mercy. The organization provided free dental services – such as x-rays, cleanings, extractions and fillings – to anyone who showed up.
When she arrived at the clinic after traveling from Des Moines, she described her front teeth as “black slivers” that practically chipped off at the touch.
Katlynn Quivetis received new teeth during Iowa Mission of Mercy’s free dental clinic on Friday.
After pitching a tent outside 12 hours before the event started to ensure her place in line, Quitevis received a new removable partial denture, called a flipper. The first thing she said she would do once receiving the flipper is to take a selfie.
“I’m gonna smile for the first time in a very long time and actually mean it,” she said, toothless, while waiting for the flipper. “Even without having (teeth) it’s easier for me to smile because at least this way people aren’t looking at my teeth.”
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Over 1,000 people like Quitevis waited at the Waterloo Convention Center Friday and Saturday to receive crucial dental care. Iowa Mission of Mercy started the program in 2008 in Waterloo and for the past 15 years has held an annual free dental clinic in different cities across the state. The number of patients and how much the work would have cost was not immediately available. Historically, $1 million worth of work is performed.
Zachary Kouri, IMOM’s clinic chief, said it takes hundreds of dentists, hygienists, assistants, volunteers, plumbers and electricians to make the event happen. Everyone involved worked for free.
Dental professionals provide dental care to hundreds of patients on Friday during the Iowa Mission of Mercy free dental clinic at the Waterloo Convention Center. Services provided included cleanings, fillings and x-rays.
Kouri said Waterloo has been “one of the most important” communities for the organization.
“They are always very helpful and anything we need, they do,” he said. “There’s nothing that we generally have to ask for here, which has been just great.”
Chris Aldrich, a dentist and IMOM committee co-chair, said the organization had to shut down its volunteer registration because so many people signed up to volunteer.
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Quitevis said she and her husband, Alexander, have planned to come to the IMOM event since January. She said she could no longer put off her dental care because the front teeth were rotting and her molars were “gummy.” Along with her three front teeth, her top molars were pulled. The dentists tried to pull her bottom molars but they were impacted due to incoming wisdom teeth.
Dental professionals provide dental care to hundreds of patients on Friday during the Iowa Mission of Mercy free dental clinic at the Waterloo Convention Center. Services provided included cleanings, fillings and x-rays.
Her lack of dental hygiene began when she was a child, saying she stopped brushing her teeth to spite her parents. No brushing, along with being diagnosed Ehlers Danlos Syndrome – a disorder that affects connective tissues, that can also cause dental problems – as well as autism, which makes it difficult for her to start and keep up habits, quickly eroded her teeth.
Dental professionals provide dental care to hundreds of patients on Friday during the Iowa Mission of Mercy free dental clinic at the Waterloo Convention Center. Services provided included cleanings, fillings and x-rays.
She said this resulted in her teeth not having enamel, turning into rot, and that everytime she would eat, parts of her teeth would chip off. The chipped, black teeth made her not want to smile.
“I’m a very big personality, I’m a people pleaser, I like to communicate,” she said. “But it’s hard to do when all you think about is your teeth when you’re talking or smiling for the camera.”
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Even though she saw her teeth rapidly decaying, she was scared to brush her teeth because any contact would result in chipping. She said it was a never-ending cycle of fluctuating emotions because she wanted to change her habits to brush more, but knew if she just let them rot and fall out, she wouldn’t have the teeth she hated.
However, she told herself that if she ever had her teeth fixed, she would start brushing and flossing, and hopefully get back into that habit.
Dental professionals provide dental care to hundreds of patients on Friday during the Iowa Mission of Mercy free dental clinic at the Waterloo Convention Center. Services provided included cleanings, fillings and x-rays.
With new teeth, Quitevis will be able to eat her favorite foods – pizza and shrimp tempura – without worry of chipping or her teeth falling out. She will be able to bite into an apple for the first time in five years. She can now use a fork without worrying that the prongs will get in between the gaps.
Apart from eating, she’s excited to go out and smile without having fears of people looking at her. She is also hoping her new appearance will help her get a new job – saying that one employer turned her down for not being “presentable.”
Dental professionals provide dental care to hundreds of patients on Friday during the Iowa Mission of Mercy free dental clinic at the Waterloo Convention Center. Services provided included cleanings, fillings and x-rays.
“I get teary eyed thinking that I’m getting the help, that I will be able to smile again,” she said. “It’s an amazing blessing for a lot of people and to see so many people come together just to volunteer for it, that in itself is amazing. It’s like selflessness.”
10 states haven’t expanded Medicaid—here are the health care challenges they face
10 states haven’t expanded Medicaid—here are the health care challenges they face
The 2010 Affordable Care Act offered states an opportunity to expand eligibility for Medicaid, a health care program paid for jointly by the federal and state governments that covers care for low-income children, adults, people who are pregnant or have a disability, and older adults.
The expansion extended Medicaid coverage to all low-income adults earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level—for individuals, that’s roughly $20,120 in 2023. To cover the costs, the federal government would pay for 90% of the program, and states would have to pay the remaining 10%.
The result was a significant increase in the number of people covered by Medicaid. Before the expansion, 56.5 million people were enrolled in Medicaid and the closely associated Children’s Health Insurance Program. By May 2023, those programs enrolled 93.8 million people, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s 1 in 5 people (and 4 in 10 children) in the United States.
Under the original law, states that chose not to expand their eligibility criteria would risk not receiving any federal funding for any of their Medicaid programs. But in 2012, the Supreme Court overturned that penalty for not expanding eligibility, and made it fully optional for states.
While 40 states and Washington D.C. have adopted expansion, 10 have not. Most states that haven’t expanded have less health care coverage than the national average.
Foothold Technology used data from the Kaiser Family Foundation to look closer at each of the 10 states that haven’t expanded Medicaid to learn about their ongoing health care challenges. Data points on Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollment are also included. The difference in enrollment from before the Affordable Care Act compared to May 2023 is calculated based on total enrollment per 100 residents in the state.
Where Medicaid expansion hasn’t been adopted
At the beginning of 2014, 24 states and Washington D.C. expanded their coverage immediately. Since then, another 16 states have followed suit. In March 2023, North Carolina became the most recent state to enact Medicaid expansion legislation, but implementation may not come until 2024.
In the remaining states, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 1.9 million people who earn too much to receive government subsidies to buy private health insurance would be covered by Medicaid if it were expanded. States that haven’t adopted expansion cite economic factors and federal governmental overreach as reasons why they won’t. But Kaiser reviews of studies on Medicaid expansion have found people in states that did expand eligibility have better health, which is good for the states’ health care providers and overall economies.
Alabama
– Medicaid and CHIP enrollment, May 2023: 1.2 million (23.7 per 100 people, 18.6% below national average)
– 43.4% increase in enrollment from before Affordable Care Act
Alabama ranks 42nd in the nation in terms of overall health system performance, according to the Commonwealth Fund. Heart disease is the state’s leading cause of death and the state has the third-highest heart disease death rate in the nation, with 247.5 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some experts say this rate doesn’t have to be so high—in 2021, the Cleveland Clinic found that 90% of heart disease cases could be prevented through diet, exercise, and not smoking.
To combat the state’s health challenges, the University of Alabama at Birmingham launched a public-private partnership called Live HealthSmart Alabama in 2019. The organization provides mobile health screenings and produce markets, accessible physical activities, and health and wellness education.
Florida
– Medicaid and CHIP enrollment, May 2023: 4.8 million (21.4 per 100 people, 31.8% below national average)
– 13.0% increase in enrollment from before Affordable Care Act
When pandemic-related Medicaid protections ended in early 2023, about 900,000 Floridians were dropped from Medicaid rolls, a total that could climb to 1.5 million, according to NPR. This could cause 388,000 citizens to lose not only their health coverage but also any government aid to purchase a new insurance plan, according to Kaiser.
The state developed a State Health Improvement Plan for 2022-2026 to focus on seven health concerns and partner with local organizations to tackle them. These priority areas include Alzheimer’s and dementia, chronic diseases, maternal and child health, mental health and substance abuse, injury and violence prevention, and transmissible diseases. The plan also seeks to address social and economic barriers to good health, with goals to expand education, improve access to services, and promote healthy lifestyles.
Kansas
– Medicaid and CHIP enrollment, May 2023: 472,492 (16.1 per 100 people, 75.0% below national average)
– 23.1% increase in enrollment from before Affordable Care Act
If Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly—a Democrat—had her way, the state would already have adopted Medicaid expansion. However, a Republican-led state legislature did not include her proposal in its fiscal year 2023 budget and also didn’t take up an expansion bill she introduced. In June 2023, the governor again called for expansion, citing the state’s need for increased mental health coverage.
Kansas ranks last in the country for prevalence of mental illness and access to care, according to a 2023 report by Mental Health America. The governor says that expanding Medicaid would provide affordable mental health and substance abuse treatment to 150,000 more Kansans, of whom one-third are already in need of those services.
Texas
– Medicaid and CHIP enrollment, May 2023: 6.0 million (19.8 per 100 people, 41.8% below national average)
– 25.0% increase in enrollment from before Affordable Care Act
In 2022, about 1 in 6 Texans were uninsured, representing the highest rate in the nation, according to the Census Bureau. However, that rate may rise again as pandemic-related protections for Medicaid recipients expire. Over 500,000 people have lost Medicaid coverage since April 2023, according to the Texas Tribune.
The state government will likely not enact a plan anytime soon. Although 69% of Texans support Medicaid expansion, some state leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, are opposed to the program, despite the fact that the state could receive as much as $5.4 billion in federal aid to help fund it.
Wyoming
– Medicaid and CHIP enrollment, May 2023: 84,685 (14.6 per 100 people, 93.2% below national average)
– 25.6% increase in enrollment from before Affordable Care Act
Medicaid covers 1 in 14 adults and 1 in 4 children in Wyoming, according to the Kaiser analysis. Expansion would provide an additional 15,200 people the opportunity to have health coverage, 6 in 10 of whom live below the poverty line but don’t currently qualify for help.
In 2021, state legislators started introducing bills to implement the expansion, but the bills died for three subsequent years, even though the state’s population is in favor of it, according to Wyoming Public Radio. The state’s aging population has challenges with chronic diseases. For instance, more than 2 in 5 adults aged 65 and older have high blood pressure, the 2023 Wyoming Healthy Aging Data Report found.
Data reporting by Emma Rubin. Story editing by Jeff Inglis. Copy editing by Tim Bruns. Photo selection by Clarese Moller.
This story originally appeared on Foothold Technology and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.