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Abstract: 

When is a dental need “serious” for purposes of Eighth Amendment scrutiny? Is a condition “serious” if a person has no teeth? Or a failing partial implant? Does a person’s inability to chew crunchy food amount to a serious condition if it interferes in their capacity to obtain adequate nutrition? This issue’s “dental corner” feature examines the scope of the standard of care for correctional dental prostheses.

Keywords: baseline for constitutional adequacy of prophylactic dental care; parameters of “serious need”; inability to chew

Affiliations:  1: Penn State University.