Bad teeth are proving to be a major impediment to women in California prisons seeking to enter addiction treatment and vocational rehabilitation programs, the San Jose Mercury News reported April 21.

Nonviolent offenders must be free of preexisting health problems before entering such programs, but a shortage of dental care means that women with even a single problem tooth face a choice of waiting months to get an appointment with a dentist or having their teeth pulled so they can get addiction treatment or job training.

"It's unconscionable," said Assemblywoman Sally Lieber (D-San Jose). "We have women who are getting 16 and 18 out of 34 teeth pulled, and that really destroys their future job prospects," Lieber said.  "We have to change the situation."

Lieber has introduced legislation designed to shorten the waiting list of female patients requiring dental care.

The dental-clearance policy has meant that relatively few women have qualified for a program that allows incarcerated mothers to be reunited with their children while serving their sentence. "We don't want to send offenders out to these facilities and have major dental issues or medical conditions that would put them at risk," said Wendy Still, who supervises California's mother-infant community prisons.

Women who do choose to have their teeth pulled face almost as much discrimination in the workplace for their appearance as for having a criminal record, said Allyson West, director of the California Reentry Program.

"I'd rather lose a tooth than not have my baby, so to me it was worth it," said inmate Michelle Filby, 31, who had a number of teeth pulled in order to qualify for the mother-child program. "But it would have been nice to maybe get a root canal or fillings."