About Mary Otto
Mary Otto, a Washington, D.C.-based freelancer, is AHCJ's topic leader on oral health and the author of "Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America." She can be reached at mary@healthjournalism.org.

Photo: Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore SunHeather and Eli Powell
A routine dental checkup for a Baltimore 4-year-old turned into a health care odyssey for his mother.
It all began when a dentist told Heather Powell that her son Eli had several cavities, and would need to go under general anesthesia to have eight crowns placed on his back teeth. Continue reading →
Mary Otto, a Washington, D.C.-based freelancer, is AHCJ's topic leader on oral health and the author of "Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America." She can be reached at mary@healthjournalism.org.