<H1>For want of a dentist</H1><H2>Maryland boy, 12, dies after bacteria from tooth spread to his brain</H2><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 25px" vAlign=bottom width="1%"><A id=linkImgRelatedPhotos>
</A></TD><TD vAlign=bottom width="99%"><DIV class=caption style="PADDING-RIGHT: 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 25px">Deamonte Driver, aged 12, is shown with his mother, Alyce, at Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C., after emergency brain surgery.</DIV><DIV style="CLEAR: both"></DIV><DIV class="" id=viewRelatedPhotosLink style="PADDING-RIGHT: 10px; DISPLAY: none; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">
View related photos</DIV><SCRIPT>var hasRelatedPhotos = 'false';if (hasRelatedPhotos=='true'){var vRPL = document.getElementById("viewRelatedPhotosLin k");if (vRPL!=undefined) vRPL.style.display = "";var vLRPG = document.getElementById("linkRelatedPhotos"); var vLIRPG = document.getElementById("linkImgRelatedPhotos ");if (vLRPG) {if(vLIRPG) vLIRPG.href=vLRPG.href;}}</SCRIPT></TD></TR><TR><TD><DIV class="credit aR">Linda Davidson / The Washington Post</DIV></TD><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><DIV class=p14><DIV id=finalPos></DIV><DIV class="WCCol w300 fR clrR"><DIV style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 20px"><LINK href="/css/html40.css" type=text/css rel=stylesheet><SCRIPT src="/js/std.js"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT>var cssList = new Array();</SCRIPT><SCRIPT>getCSS("3053751")</SCRIPT><LINK href="/default.ashx/id/3053751/" type=text/css rel=stylesheet></DIV></DIV><DIV class="CCol w160 fR clrR"></DIV><DIV class=mR165><DIV><DIV class=textMedBlackBold>By Mary Otto</DIV>
<DIV class=textTimestamp><DIV id=udtD>Updated: 1 hour, 59 minutes ago</DIV><SCRIPT language=javascript>function UpdateTimeStamp(pdt) {var n = document.getElementById("udtD");if(pdt != '' && n && window.DateTime) {var dt = new DateTime();pdt = dt.T2D(pdt);if(dt.GetTZ(pdt)) {n.innerHTML = dt.D2S(pdt,((''.toLowerCase()=='false')?false:true ));}}}UpdateTimeStamp('633082794826770000');</SCRIPT></DIV></DIV><P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine></SPAN>WASHINGTON - Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine></SPAN>A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine></SPAN>If his mother had been insured.<DIV class=aC><DIV class="textSmallGrey w320"><DIV style="PADDING-RIGHT: 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><SCRIPT id=AdShowcase type=text/javascript>//alert('required to write AdShowcase');ad_dap('250','300','&PG=NBCMSH&AP=108 9');</SCRIPT><IFRAME id=dapIf8 src="about:blank" frameBorder=0 width=0 scrolling=no height=0></IFRAME></DIV><HR noShade SIZE=1></DIV></DIV><A name=storyContinued></A><P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine></SPAN>If his family had not lost its Medicaid.<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine></SPAN>If Medicaid dentists weren't so hard to find.<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine></SPAN>If his mother hadn't been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN
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