Your GDP per capita is 50% higher than ours. You have money for this.
If there's no will to raise up the poor, you it should be straightforward to use the state directly to ensure that everyone is taught how to brush their teeth and ensured to have access to brushes and toothpaste.
I agree with you, but GDP per capita isn't the correct measure here when the bottom 8% in the US has no health insurance compared to Sweden's 0%, which I have to assume because I didn't even find this measured anywhere due to universal healthcare.
While Sweden has free health care, it does not completely include dental care. It's free until you turn 20, after that you pay out of your own pocket. This is to incentivize people to take care of their teeth, instead of not caring and then expecting free replacement of your teeth. One you're 20, you only get a very tiny deductible on your dental care which equates to almost the exactly the cost of a single basic check-up once a year.
I think that's the same mentality, "yes I'm poor now, but I'll get the break I deserve soon enough, and I don't want all these undesirables to benefit when I do".
If there's no will to raise up the poor, you it should be straightforward to use the state directly to ensure that everyone is taught how to brush their teeth and ensured to have access to brushes and toothpaste.