Teeth For Danny
Donation protected
Hello. My name is Danny, and I really don't want to do this. I tried for a long time to not do this. But I've come to the realization that it's necessary, and that it can be done in a way that addresses my two primary concerns for why I didn't want to do this. My first issue with crowdfunding for medical expenses, is I think it covers up the real issue, which is that this should be covered. Americans should have their healthcare covered, and Canadians should have their dental covered. Dental Health is Health, and profiteering off of pain and suffering is evil. Full stop. The end. There's no reason in countries as wealthy as ours, that so many of our people are suffering. The American healthcare issue is well known, the Canadian dental issue is only discussed in low whispers amongst those, like me, who really desperately needed help, and never got it. We got shame and pain. We still get shame.
And that's the main reason I didn't want to do this. I have experienced more than enough shame, guilt, and unwanted attention because of my dental issues. I did not want to be made any more of a spectacle than I have been every day since the accident. The accident was 25 years ago. I'm 33 now, but in grade 3, on a schoolyard playground, I walked up behind a friend who was at the plate playing baseball. I thought he saw me, I thought the pitcher saw me. They didn't... the pitch went over the plate, the bat was swung with full force, and all I remember from the rest of that day are little snippets of screaming that haunt me every day. Reliving the terror, the screaming, the blood, the pain. My classmates traumatized, crying and panicking.
Fast forward to me at 24 years old. I bit into a piece of duct tape on a job site, and the front, centre tooth (that had taken the brunt of the impact) snapped in half. I kept looking in the mirror trying to not believe it had happened. But it had. I was only able to get temporary work done at the time. More shame, more pain. I wouldn't smile intentionally, or open my mouth wide enough to show my teeth while talking, ever since. Every time someone noticed, it was another reliving of all the previous trauma, and shame, and pain.
Fast forward to this past year. All the rest of the teeth in the front row start breaking apart. They expose raw nerve, and become infected. Extreme pain. I go to a series of dentists who all do what they can, for the amount of money I can give them, to essentially 'patch things up' - until I can afford to get the real work done required. I knew I would never have that kind of money, it had been estimated once at $40,000.00. I've never made that much money in a year. Certainly I wouldn't ever have it lying around extra. I won't bore you with details about my family and my parents. If you know me, you know the story there. Suffice to say I grew up poor, and there's never really been extra money in our household. So this year has been hell. I've been on over the counter painkillers by the fistfull (one day I took 36 different pills), swirling orajel around my gums by the bottle, just trying to get through every day this year, as one tooth after another crumbled into fragments.
As the pain became unmanageable and unbearable. Screaming and crying into a pillow for hours. Unable to do anything. I've been trying to work through it all, but it landed me in the hospital in September, and then last week I woke up to a nightmare. An infection had spread into my face, a condition called Cellulitis - my upper lip and all the surrounding area was so swollen I couldn't speak, and a quick bit of online research showed this could be fatal if not treated immediately. I went to a dentist who prescribed antibiotics, but couldn't do anything until the swelling was under control. Their prescription didn't do anything and things were getting much worse, very quickly. I went to the Emergency Room. If I hadn't, I very well might have died in my sleep that night. They immediately put me on an IV of much stronger medication and that started the process of bringing things under control. After 5 days of IV treatments every 8 hours, I was cleared to return to the dentist, who removed all 4 of my upper, front teeth. So that's where I'm at today. I've lost 2 weeks of paid work and I've got no teeth. I've lost a lot of work days this year with all the appointments and emergencies. Lost a lot of money too. I spent the last of my money on Taxis to and from the hospital and on liquid nutrition.
And while I tried to deal with this myself, like 6 million other Canadians are trying to do, I have to admit that I can't. I need help. And so do a lot of other people. A lot of people have asked if they can help and two even just sent money, one in particular is the only reason I could afford to pay for the removal of these 4 teeth. I really didn't want a childhood accident to define my life, but I've come to terms with the fact that it has. And I'm angry. And we should all be angry. Since I've spoken out about my own experience, I have heard horror stories from across Canada, and it's clear that I can't, and won't, remain silent any longer. I will not be shamed, as so many are, into thinking I, and we, deserve pain, deserve suffering, simply because we are poor. Canadians pride ourselves on our healthcare system, on our compassionate society, but when it comes to dental care, we fail our citizens. At every level of government, yes, but most of all in our country-wide silence on this issue. 6 million people is not some small segment of the population in a country of 36.
So while I am trying to raise money to help myself, I am also committing to raise hell for the kids out there who don't have a voice. For the struggling parents who love their children and can't afford to get them into a dentist. For the working class, the artists, the PEOPLE of this country, who are suffering and need help. For them I'll commit to putting in real work during my own struggle, and for the rest of my life, to raise awareness, to put pressure on politicians, on dentists, on businesses and those at the top of our increasingly unequal social structure, I'm calling on ALL OF CANADA to stop allowing this NATIONAL SHAME to be ignored, silenced and suppressed. To speak up and tell your story. To Remove The Stigma. Remove The Shame. Remove The Guilt. Your fellow Canadians are suffering. Or you're suffering and not telling anyone. I know, I get it. That's what I did. Shut my mouth, literally and figuratively, thinking that no one cares. But if Canadians are who they claim they are. A kind, compassionate, rational people. Then they will no longer sit silently and allow their fellow Canadians to suffer pain and humiliation, degradation and horror, when no other advanced, wealthy country with a modern National Healthcare System does so. You either care about your fellow Canadians, or you don't. I hope you care.
The two organizations that have stepped forward to help me so far are the UofT Faculty of Dentistry, and The Actor's Fund of Canada - an organization for helping people in the entertainment industry. If there is any excess money raised from this, I will be donating to them, and I'll be beginning the process of other forms of advocacy and awareness, which may include creation of other funds, until such a time as Canadian politicians, business leaders, dentists and the wealthy decide to put an end to this cruel, heartless ideology, that ignores a simple fact. Dental Care IS Health Care. And if we want to tout ourselves as being morally superior to our neighbours to the south, and we want to tout our "Universal Health Care" as our number 1 source of national pride, then we are lying to ourselves. Our healthcare is not universal until it includes Dental Care. The End. Full Stop. Thank you for listening. Anything helps. I can also accept e-transfers, [email redacted].
And that's the main reason I didn't want to do this. I have experienced more than enough shame, guilt, and unwanted attention because of my dental issues. I did not want to be made any more of a spectacle than I have been every day since the accident. The accident was 25 years ago. I'm 33 now, but in grade 3, on a schoolyard playground, I walked up behind a friend who was at the plate playing baseball. I thought he saw me, I thought the pitcher saw me. They didn't... the pitch went over the plate, the bat was swung with full force, and all I remember from the rest of that day are little snippets of screaming that haunt me every day. Reliving the terror, the screaming, the blood, the pain. My classmates traumatized, crying and panicking.
Fast forward to me at 24 years old. I bit into a piece of duct tape on a job site, and the front, centre tooth (that had taken the brunt of the impact) snapped in half. I kept looking in the mirror trying to not believe it had happened. But it had. I was only able to get temporary work done at the time. More shame, more pain. I wouldn't smile intentionally, or open my mouth wide enough to show my teeth while talking, ever since. Every time someone noticed, it was another reliving of all the previous trauma, and shame, and pain.
Fast forward to this past year. All the rest of the teeth in the front row start breaking apart. They expose raw nerve, and become infected. Extreme pain. I go to a series of dentists who all do what they can, for the amount of money I can give them, to essentially 'patch things up' - until I can afford to get the real work done required. I knew I would never have that kind of money, it had been estimated once at $40,000.00. I've never made that much money in a year. Certainly I wouldn't ever have it lying around extra. I won't bore you with details about my family and my parents. If you know me, you know the story there. Suffice to say I grew up poor, and there's never really been extra money in our household. So this year has been hell. I've been on over the counter painkillers by the fistfull (one day I took 36 different pills), swirling orajel around my gums by the bottle, just trying to get through every day this year, as one tooth after another crumbled into fragments.
As the pain became unmanageable and unbearable. Screaming and crying into a pillow for hours. Unable to do anything. I've been trying to work through it all, but it landed me in the hospital in September, and then last week I woke up to a nightmare. An infection had spread into my face, a condition called Cellulitis - my upper lip and all the surrounding area was so swollen I couldn't speak, and a quick bit of online research showed this could be fatal if not treated immediately. I went to a dentist who prescribed antibiotics, but couldn't do anything until the swelling was under control. Their prescription didn't do anything and things were getting much worse, very quickly. I went to the Emergency Room. If I hadn't, I very well might have died in my sleep that night. They immediately put me on an IV of much stronger medication and that started the process of bringing things under control. After 5 days of IV treatments every 8 hours, I was cleared to return to the dentist, who removed all 4 of my upper, front teeth. So that's where I'm at today. I've lost 2 weeks of paid work and I've got no teeth. I've lost a lot of work days this year with all the appointments and emergencies. Lost a lot of money too. I spent the last of my money on Taxis to and from the hospital and on liquid nutrition.
And while I tried to deal with this myself, like 6 million other Canadians are trying to do, I have to admit that I can't. I need help. And so do a lot of other people. A lot of people have asked if they can help and two even just sent money, one in particular is the only reason I could afford to pay for the removal of these 4 teeth. I really didn't want a childhood accident to define my life, but I've come to terms with the fact that it has. And I'm angry. And we should all be angry. Since I've spoken out about my own experience, I have heard horror stories from across Canada, and it's clear that I can't, and won't, remain silent any longer. I will not be shamed, as so many are, into thinking I, and we, deserve pain, deserve suffering, simply because we are poor. Canadians pride ourselves on our healthcare system, on our compassionate society, but when it comes to dental care, we fail our citizens. At every level of government, yes, but most of all in our country-wide silence on this issue. 6 million people is not some small segment of the population in a country of 36.
So while I am trying to raise money to help myself, I am also committing to raise hell for the kids out there who don't have a voice. For the struggling parents who love their children and can't afford to get them into a dentist. For the working class, the artists, the PEOPLE of this country, who are suffering and need help. For them I'll commit to putting in real work during my own struggle, and for the rest of my life, to raise awareness, to put pressure on politicians, on dentists, on businesses and those at the top of our increasingly unequal social structure, I'm calling on ALL OF CANADA to stop allowing this NATIONAL SHAME to be ignored, silenced and suppressed. To speak up and tell your story. To Remove The Stigma. Remove The Shame. Remove The Guilt. Your fellow Canadians are suffering. Or you're suffering and not telling anyone. I know, I get it. That's what I did. Shut my mouth, literally and figuratively, thinking that no one cares. But if Canadians are who they claim they are. A kind, compassionate, rational people. Then they will no longer sit silently and allow their fellow Canadians to suffer pain and humiliation, degradation and horror, when no other advanced, wealthy country with a modern National Healthcare System does so. You either care about your fellow Canadians, or you don't. I hope you care.
The two organizations that have stepped forward to help me so far are the UofT Faculty of Dentistry, and The Actor's Fund of Canada - an organization for helping people in the entertainment industry. If there is any excess money raised from this, I will be donating to them, and I'll be beginning the process of other forms of advocacy and awareness, which may include creation of other funds, until such a time as Canadian politicians, business leaders, dentists and the wealthy decide to put an end to this cruel, heartless ideology, that ignores a simple fact. Dental Care IS Health Care. And if we want to tout ourselves as being morally superior to our neighbours to the south, and we want to tout our "Universal Health Care" as our number 1 source of national pride, then we are lying to ourselves. Our healthcare is not universal until it includes Dental Care. The End. Full Stop. Thank you for listening. Anything helps. I can also accept e-transfers, [email redacted].
Organizer
Danny Mendlow
Organizer
Toronto, ON
