Mary Otto is the oral health topic leader for the Association of Health Care Journalists. She began writing about oral health at the Washington Post, where she worked for eight years covering social issues including health care and poverty. She lives in Washington, DC.
Praise for Teeth:
Winner of the Studs and Ida Terkel Prize
"[Teeth is] . . . more than an exploration of a two-tiered
system—it is a call for sweeping, radical change."
New York Times Book Review
[Otto infuses] what could be a mundane topic with quirky history,
heart-wrenching real-life stories, and prose that is . . . poetic .
. . this harrowing book pulls at the heartstrings. It’s a must-read
for anyone who cares about public health policy."
Newsday
"With many adults still uninsured, children’s dental care far from
universal, and the future of government-supported health care
unclear, Otto’s sobering report should not go unheeded."
Publishers Weekly
"Otto’s well-reported and important book will arouse concern over
the fact that dental health, which is so essential to our
well-being, gets such short shrift, and, hopefully, help instigate
reform."
Booklist
"An astute examination of the complex, insular business of oral
health care."
Kirkus Reviews
"Mary Otto hits us right in the faceour teethwith this important
book. The lack of dental care for millions of Americans is a
national shame. Teeth breaks new ground in the canon of books about
poverty. It should be read by anyone concerned about the class
divide in the U.S."
Dale Maharidge, author of And Their Children After Them, winner of
the 1990 nonfiction Pulitzer Prize
"I can’t remember the last time I read a book that so brilliantly
yokes physiological, political and cultural systems. Rife with
discovery, and a spur to social action, Mary Otto’s book is a
beautifully readable and essential testament for these times."
Mary Cappello, author of Swallow: Foreign Bodies, Their Ingestion,
Inspiration, and the Curious Doctor who Extracted Them
"Mary Otto brings history, policy and painful personal realities
together in this compelling and engaging book about our nation’s
highly preventable epidemic of oral disease. Teeth should be read
by every policy maker and health professional who believes we can
and must act to reduce the current barriers to dental care."
Louis W. Sullivan, MD, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human
Services, 19891993, and chairman of the Sullivan Alliance to
Transform the Health Professions
"Who eats too much sugar, leading to dental trauma? Primarily the
poor. Who cannot sleep because of continuing dental pain and no
available dental care? Primarily the poor. Even with Medicare and
Medicaid, dental care has remained a stepchildand these programs
are in jeopardy now. The teeth are no match for . . . a life of
poverty,’ Otto says. More teeth failure and its consequences are on
their way."
Peter Edelman
"Here’s a book that will enlighten you, upset you, and give you
hope. I highly recommend it."
Bob Herbert, Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos and former Op-Ed
columnist for the New York Times
"Mesmerizing and important. Mary Otto’s unflinching work on the
miserable state of oral health in America gnaws at you like a
toothache."
Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-8)
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