MIAMI -- A Local 10 Problem Solver Investigation is focusing on a dental debacle that critics say has left some of the poorest children in Miami-Dade County scavenging for dental care.

Local 10's Jilda Unruh even talked to a mother who said she had to pull her own child's tooth because she couldn't find a dentist to do it.

Video shows rotted teeth, an abscessed tooth, a cavity untreated for two months, swollen gums and an infection in the bone, all in the mouth of 7-year-old Jamya Holt.

"When I eat, it hurts," Jamya said.

Jamya's mother is outraged that it took two months and calls to five dentists before she could get her daughter an appointment.

"Nobody is willing to see her," Medicaid mom, Aretha Holt, said. "That's pitiful for them to treat children like this. Out of all the people, how could you treat kids like this?"

It hasn't always been this way, Unruh found. Up until July of last year, Miami Dade County Medicaid families saw dentists and the state paid the dentists fees for their service.

But now, state leaders are experimenting with privatizing the Medicaid program in Miami-Dade County.

They've given the contract to a company called Atlantic Dental, Inc., or ADI.

ADI pays the dentist just $4 per month per child -- whether the dentist sees the child or not. Some argue this dulls any incentive to provide treatment.

Dr. Luisa Utset-Ward, a leading critic of this experiment with privatized dental care for Medicaid children, showed Local 10 pictures of a child's cavity that had gone into an open nerve. She says the child had been in pain for nine days, unable to get in to see an ADI dentist.

"I had to do a little root canal on his primary molar because it was decayed so bad," Utset-Ward said. "And there's absolutely no reason whatsoever why somebody couldn't have gotten that child out of pain. Intolerable."

Utset-Ward used to provide dental care for Medicaid kids. So did Joe Eutsey, president of the South Dade Dental Center, who says he's been forced to layoff some of his staff.

"Once that patient gets in that chair and the doctor does the exam, whatever work needs to be done, that provider is required to do that," Eutsey said. "And $4 just doesn't. $4 doesn't cover the bib that they put on."

Unruh: "How do you really expect a dentist to survive and treat a child on $4 a month?"

Chang: "You know it's part of managed care. It's how you manage the care. And that's why this contract has been awarded. Because we have to manage the dollars that are available."

And there are certainly some big dollars available -- at least to ADI.

In 2003, in Miami-Dade County, the state paid $14.9 million in pediatric dental Medicaid claims. However, ADI's contract is worth around $18 million a year.

Medicaid mom Janice Palmer, said, "It's sad that somebody can put money in their pocket, while our children are in pain."

Last July, one of Palmer's sons had an abscessed tooth -- something ADI says would get immediate attention.

ADI: "An abscessed tooth is absolutely something that requires attention. If we get a phone call regarding an abscessed tooth, I can assure you that will be taken care of within 24-hours if not less."

Not so says Palmer. "His gum was protruding and bleeding," she said. "I couldn't find one provider in that book that would make an appointment with me … We went the whole month of July."

Palmer got antibiotics for her son from a medical doctor, and then got out the pliers.

"Finally I had to pull it myself," Palmer said.

South Dade Dental Center said its ADI contract was abruptly terminated after it complained to state officials about non-payment of $56,000 for supplemental services.

Meanwhile, this experiment in Miami-Dade could soon be a reality in all of Florida, as governor bush pushes to privatize all Medicaid programs for adults and children.

Coming up Friday night, find out what Jilda uncovered about why the poor children of Miami-Dade were singled out.