Good news: Universal dental care teaching Brits the virtue of self-reliance
posted at 4:25 pm on October 16, 2007 by Allahpundit
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
They’re taking the long way around but eventually they’re going to end up a nation of Randians.
Randians that can’t eat solid food, that is.
Falling numbers of state dentists in England has led to some people taking extreme measures, including extracting their own teeth, according to a new study released Monday.
Others have used superglue to stick crowns back on, rather than stumping up for private treatment, said the study. One person spoke of carrying out 14 separate extractions on himself with pliers…
[A] lack of publicly-funded dentists means that growing numbers go private: 78 percent of private patients said they were there because they could not find a National Health Service (NHS) dentist, and only 15 percent because of better treatment…
Almost half of all dentists — 45 percent — said they no longer take NHS patients, while 41 percent said they had an “excessive” workload. Twenty-nine percent said their clinic had problems recruiting or retaining dentists.
“These findings indicate that the NHS dental system is letting many patients down very badly,” said Grant.
Here’s basically the same article published seven months ago in the Daily Mail, just to illustrate how slow things are to change in the public model. It’s chock full of excerptable nuggets but I’ll settle for this: “Having an NHS dentist should be viewed as an aspiration rather than a reality.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages:
You know, I go to probably one of the best dentists there is. They cater to kids but welcome all people who are total wusses about going to the dentist, and their skills are top-notch. Regardless, I still dread going to the dentist.
If this is what HillaryCare is going to bring us, I’m getting dentures right *%^$ing now, and be done with teeth!
MadisonConservative on October 16, 2007 at 4:28 PM
This story made me smile.
spec_ops_mateo on October 16, 2007 at 4:33 PM
There are fewer state dentists because it’s about impossible to make a living as a state dentist.
And because it is free, the service is not valued and people tend not to be affected by the fallout of poor oral home care.
One tends to take better care of something that is properly valued.
drjohn on October 16, 2007 at 4:35 PM
Allah, you need the obligatory Little Shop of Horror clips…or a Big Book of British Smiles reference at least.
Bad Candy on October 16, 2007 at 4:37 PM
This is the future under Hillary Care, or any government run insurance system.
According to Ted Kennedy the gov’t can run SCHIPS properly. Funny thing is though, The Chappaquidic Kid was as vocal as the rest of them about Walter Reed and how the government (read,Bush) can’t run a government health care progrm for our veterans.
In my neck of the woods this is called talking out of your ass.
Pulchritudinous Patriot on October 16, 2007 at 4:46 PM
A new brand of toothpaste might help.
thirteen28 on October 16, 2007 at 4:53 PM
Do I make you ‘orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrny?
OhEssYouCowboys on October 16, 2007 at 5:06 PM
Wait, there are still people with teeth in Britian?When will the scourge of disfiguring gum enamel ever be defeated?
Iblis on October 16, 2007 at 5:45 PM
Perfect answer for Randi Rhodes of Air America!
profitsbeard on October 16, 2007 at 5:46 PM
Meh, who cares? Soon all the smiles will be covered by burqas or nasty facial hair in the UK anyway.
NTWR on October 16, 2007 at 6:00 PM
14 extractions on himself!!!!!
Brush your stinkin’ teeth, buddy!!!
jdpaz on October 16, 2007 at 6:10 PM
What ? They cannot find enough dentists from the Islamic countries to immigrate ?
SIJ6141 on October 16, 2007 at 6:37 PM
At least Allahpundit has been nice enough not to put up any more Tay Zonday videos. Those videos are the internet equivalent of going to the dentist.
If any new Tay Zonday videos spring up soon, you are free to blame me for reminding him.
Weebork on October 16, 2007 at 6:45 PM
Man, you could make a mint by having a black market teeth pulling service.
- The Cat
MirCat on October 16, 2007 at 7:13 PM
Allahpundit
Aren’t you glad to live in this great country when you had your wisdom teeth out recently????
Aggie85 on October 16, 2007 at 7:53 PM
Why bother pulling teeth? Just take some aspirin, and after a while they fall out.
Or better yet, drink beer. The alcohol numbs the tooth, and kills the bacteria.
rockhauler on October 16, 2007 at 8:48 PM
We in the profession have seen this coming for years in England, and it will happen here in medicine as well as dentistry with nationalized health care. The reason is not what is talked about anywhere so far a I have heard. It used to be, the best and the brightest went into our professions. There were personal and financial rewards for spending 12 to 16 years in college and being $150,000+ dollars in debt when you finally opened you practice. Take those incentives away and the best and the brightest go into computer science,stock brokers,etc. Right now,because dentistry has avoided “managed care” for the most part, 20% of the applicants to dental school are MD’s who are leaving the profession. I don’t know about you, but when I look up from the operating table, I don’t want to see the guy who couldn’t get into plumbing school. It really is a matter of life and death!
driller on October 17, 2007 at 10:00 AM
What, the Government takes over and the Quality goes down? Who could have seen this coming?
You guys are too harsh blaming the Socialists. Sure their ideas didn’t work, and in fact made problems worse in many cases; but they have really really good intentions.
And isn’t that enough to let them try again? I mean, sure they’ll fail, but they’ll mean well. Your other choice is some guy who doesn’t truly deeply care and “feel your pain”; but he can actually get stuff done in a way that help fix the problem… who’d want that.
I want really compassionate lawmakers, and if they continuously fail to reach any goals; well, that’s still better than a less concerned but intelligent person.
Also, my car hasn’t run in months, but my mechanic “really cares”; and my doctor is prescribing IV O2 which can’t be right… but hey, he’s really really nice.
gekkobear on October 17, 2007 at 1:12 PM
Comment pages: