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Dr. Roboto
Bittersweet release
A new high-tech way to go to the dentist is here, and it will either terrify you or encourage you to finally visit your dentist. Oral Surgery Specialists of Oklahoma has one of the country’s first “robotic dentists” for dental implant surgery. “[Yomi Robotic Dental System] delivers critical insight on patient anatomy to aid with personalized surgical planning,” according to Neocis, the robotics healthcare startup behind the robot. Doctors first take a 3D model of the patient’s teeth and upload it to the software. Then they use a “virtual surgical treatment planning program” to place the dental implant in the exact location, according to KFOR. Officials say it makes procedures more “precise, efficient and minimally invasive.” The latter benefit, while probably surgically true, seems a bit ironic given the fact that the “robot” is a big robotic arm digging around your mouth. But either way, Oklahoma’s first patient Elizabeth Bolen told KFOR she was actually excited to go to the dentist. “Just looking at the benefits of a robotic machine was amazing,” she said. “I didn’t even second-guess it.” Unlike Bolen, some people would, understandably, be scared to let a robot assist with a dental implant. Some would probably even wave their fists in the air and complain about job-stealing robots. But neither should worry too much because a surgeon is always in control of the robot. That is until the robots develop complex emotions and start pulling out everybody’s teeth in an attempt to take over the human race. But that probably won’t happen for a few years in, so we should be good for a bit.
Nobamacare
State Question 802 would allow voters to decide whether Oklahoma will finally accept the Medicaid expansion authorized by the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, but in order to get it on the ballot in 2020, organizers have until 5 p.m. Oct. 28 to collect 177,958 signatures from registered Oklahoma voters. If a number close to 200,000 sounds familiar, it’s probably because that’s about how many people would gain access to Medicaid under the expansion, according to a study commissioned by Oklahoma Health Care Authority. Announcing in 2012 that Oklahoma would refuse the Medicaid expansion, potentially worth billions of dollars of federal funding, Gov. Mary Fallin predicted that the expansion, as part of much-vilified Obamacare, would “in fact decrease the quality of health care across the United States.” In the years since, one thing has noticeably decreased in states that accepted the Medicaid expansion: the number of uninsured people. Meanwhile, Oklahoma, where the uninsured rate is the second-highest in the nation and nearly twice that of states that have accepted the expansion, has seen a significant decrease in the number of rural hospitals that remain open. According to The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, seven rural Oklahoma hospitals have closed since 2012, most recently Mercy
The sweet taste of freedom quickly soured like an unripe cherry for an Oklahoma City man last week after he led police on a high-speed chase just hours after being released from prison. According to KFOR, Jonathan Tecumseh fled a routine traffic stop around SE 29th Street, taking the vehicle north on Interstate 35, and eventually blew a tire around NE 24th Street and Santa Fe Avenue, where he ditched the vehicle and took off on foot for a wooded area, where he was taken back into custody. Tecumseh told police he fled the initial traffic stop because he was in possession of a firearm. According to KFOR, Tecumseh has previous drug violations, and he told police that he left jail that morning for being in a stolen vehicle. Police recovered the gun at the scene. Tecumseh didn’t read his copy of How Not to Get Sent Back to Jail for Dummies book while he had some
time on in his hands during his previous stint. The passenger in the police chase did have some common sense. According to police, he stuck his head out the window, waved his arms and tried to surrender. When the chase ended, he immediately laid on the ground, rather than going into the woods. The story doesn’t mention that the passenger received any charges, and hopefully he didn’t because he was an innocent bystander. Let’s hope the suspect takes a few days before doing anything that might get him sent back to jail the next time he gets out.
Hospital El Reno in April. According to a report released by GateHouse Media in July, 77 of the 106 rural hospitals that closed in the past decade were located in the 14 states that have refused the Medicaid expansion. “A hospital closure is a frightening thing for a small town,” said Patti Davis, president of Oklahoma Hospital Association, in a quote that doesn’t seem to have made its way into the pages of GateHouse-owned Oklahoman. “It places lives in jeopardy and has a domino effect on the community.” In an interview with NPR last year, Davis also noted that states that “have found ways to accept these federal funds, they are moving forward, their hospitals are in better shape because of it.” In related news, the 2019 KIDS COUNT Data Book released by The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently ranked Oklahoma 43rd in the U.S. in children’s health. But at least we can still say “Thanks, Obama” ironically.
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