As a grad student without dental insurance, Jess Stoner received “an almost-affordable root canal from student dentists” in a room full of twenty other uninsured patients.

Listening to the whimpers of pained strangers, I learned an incredibly important lesson I have never forgotten: We’re all fucked.

Read her essay on the shocking state of dental care in the United States (“25% of Americans ages 65 and older…already have lost all of their teeth”) at the Morning News.