Socialized Dentistry

It sounds like socialized dentistry is as worthwhile as socialized medicine. Hello, Michael Moore. England’s NHS is falling apart.

Almost a fifth of those questioned in the biggest patient survey of its kind said that they had missed out on dental work because of the cost.

Almost half of the dentists questioned said that their surgery was no longer taking NHS patients

The research, involving more than 5,000 patients in England, also found that as many as six per cent had treated themselves because they could not find a dentist.

Some said they took out their own teeth or fixed broken crowns with glue. One person in Lancashire had carried out 14 separate extractions with pliers.

A researcher at a shopping centre in Liverpool met three separate people in one morning who had pulled out teeth themselves.

Almost three fifths (58 per cent) of dentists said new contracts brought in last year had made the quality of care worse and 84 per cent thought the changes had failed to make it easier for patients to get an appointment.

Unlike in Canada, dental care is covered by the socialized medical system in Japan.  However, you get what you pay for.  Amalgam fillings only, even in front (my mother-in-law there had two giant silver fillings in her upper incisors until I paid for her to get caps—finally, after 20 years, she could smile again without embarrassment).  No crowns or root canals—extraction only.
You want cosmetically acceptable results?  Open your wallet and repeat after me: “Help yourself.”  A ceramic filling in Japan costs more than twice what it does here.  Why? Government payouts for “standard” work are so low the only way the dentists can survive is by charging obscene amounts for their non-covered work.
Coming soon to an America near you!

Posted by  on  10/16  at  11:21 AM

Like old PJ O’Rourke put it: “If you think health care is expensive now, wait’ll it’s free!”

Posted by  on  10/16  at  12:22 PM

It’s already happened here.

In San Diego CA only a few dentists take medicaid. The rest won’t touch it, not just because of the poor remuneration, but because of the paperwork involved. Often any profit realized by doing the procedure gets eaten up by the labor costs of processing the forms.

Hell, because CA pays such lousy fees and the paperwork involved by psychiatrist loses money everytime he sees me. Such an incentive he gets for providing treatment.

Posted by Alan Kellog  on  10/16  at  10:28 PM

Classic example why bureaucracies can’t do anything well. Human health should not become the hostage of bean counters and faceless desk jockeys.

Posted by  on  10/17  at  10:18 AM

I was arguing about health care with a friend here in SF and he was blathering away about how awesome it would be if we had a system like Denmark (his sister had just sponsored an exchange student from Odense).
Since I know his income is so low he doesn’t pay taxes (like 48% of the American wage-earning population—check the IRS website), I asked him how he’d like to be on the Danish tax system.  The lowest rate is not zero, like here, but 50%, with no exceptions regardless of how little your earn—make $500 a year and the government gets $250.  And the national sales tax is 25%.  So he’d lose half of his income right away, and a quarter of his after-tax income.
Pretty expensive health care, it seems to me.

Posted by  on  10/17  at  11:33 AM

Countries with small populations like Denmark have to do that to make it work. But any way you slice it the end result is the same, the system gets more expensive over time and less productive or useful.

And you can bet the tax evasion in those countries has to be massive. It goes on everywhere, even Eastern Europe.

Posted by  on  10/17  at  01:24 PM

hello james! Thanks for this wonderful article. Keep it up. By the way, i have bookmark your blog. Thanks again.

Posted by finding dental care  on  05/21  at  09:43 PM
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