At minimum -- at minimum, I think it's very important that we've got dental care for our kids. (Applause.) Because what happens is, is that if we can keep our children's teeth healthy, then usually that means they've got healthy teeth as adults.

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Vitamin D is important for healthy bones and teeth and a lack of the vitamin has also been linked by some studies to high rates of multiple sclerosis in Scotland.

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Closer to home, despite the imposition of dental charges in Britain since the 1950s, there has been a steady rise in the proportion of people with a healthy set of teeth.

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Slevin, now 59, went to jail in August 2005 as "a well nourished, physically healthy adult, " but emerged with a long beard, bed sores, bad teeth and weighing just 133 pounds in June 2007, according to the lawsuit.

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