Quote Originally Posted by MPLSweedman
why do you think the british are known for having terrible teeth?

because if we had national health care here, a dentist appointment would need to be booked years in advance and most of us wouldnt even bother going just like the british...

you think it sucks to wait at the doctors office when you have an appointment now? imagine your entire city waiting for the same thing
You are absolutely right that there is a lack of dentists in England who take NHS patients. However this is a fairly new problem arising from a series of dental reforms passed in 2006 which simplified the previously complex pay structure for dentists and removed incentives for carrying out complicated surgical procedures. What this means is that the dentists in England are not being proportionately compensated by the NHS for the risks inherent in oral surgery. This in turn means that most of the dentists in England only perform complicated procedures privately, forcing those in need who cannot afford the treatment to simply go without.

However your rhetoric about having to book years in advance is just flat out not true. If you are simply looking for minimal care and service it is perfectly possible to see a dentist on fairly short notice.

Now obviously this is a problem and as I said in my previous post no health care system is perfect. Yet, Britain runs the rest of their health care system very efficiently. So that means that the British people are provided with decent health care in every area but dental services and even then it is not as if treatment is nonexistent it is simply sub par.