Question:
I'm a journalist working on the Sunday Times magazine in London, and have
just begun work on a major study of British dentistry. Why are our dentists
such a joke? Would any of you experts out there be prepared to talk to me?
Answer:
So long as you are up front about what your bias is and how you intend to
use the information, then you can ask away.
I could tell you a story about a resident of the UK who had to fly over to
Michigan to get his mouth straightened up because the UK dentist was worse
than lousy, and no other dentist this person consulted knew how to handle
his case.
NHS is a huge part of the problem. It encourages crappy work and provides
incentive for all sorts of unfortunate schemes for office to try to make
enough money to put food on the table.
One of my patients moved to London. This person still returns here for
dental treatment. Refuses to get dental care there. Upon moving to London,
as soon as this person smiled, the locals would always say, "Hey, are you
from the US?" That was before this person spoke.
Unfortunately, these types of things give the UK system a bad name which may
or may not be deserved.
Truth be said, you can get very good treatment at London, as long as
you visit a respectable PRIVATE dentist. If you visit a NHS dentist on
the other hand... chances are much lower that you'll get decent
treatment and even if you manage to find someone good you'll be
presented with the usual conveyor belt options (10-minute amalgams,
30-minute crowns etc). Can't blame them - they're doing what they have
to do to avoid going bankrupt.
We don't get the full exposure of British television and movie stars, but
far too many of the ones we see are depicted with very poor teeth. Probably
helps to build the image in the average person's mind that teeth are not
important.
This movie, based on cult Broadway musical of the '60ties, tells a story
about Claude, young man from Oklahoma who comes to New York City. There
he strikes up a friendship with the group of hippies, led by Berger, and
falls in love with Sheila, girl from the rich family. However, their
happines is short because Claude must go to Vietnam war.
