Blimey! This is scary...

[Scruff]

I also find it odd that the NHS gives all treatment for free, and prescriptions are a fixed cost, but dental has surcharges. You can have any disease and treatment costs you a tenner a month (you can get a prescription pre-payment card), but if you have bad teeth you can have to spend £thousands... the top tier of treatments isn't for vanity procedures either but things you might actually need doing. £300 or whatever it is is a lot of money to a median wage slave; heck even the middle band of £50ish isn't exactly trivial.

Bad teeth are a result of poor dental hygiene (Orthodontics are paid for by the NHS and so is maxillofacial treatment). If you brush properly twice a day, floss daily, visit the oral hygienist every 12 months, and see your dentist annually, periodontal disease and caries are unlikely to occur. I can't see why the Taxpayer should have to pay for remedial dental work?

Annual Checkups / Oral Hygienist are around £46 IIRC? That is not expensive.

[DirtyDog]

Appendicitis, $55,000!!....

A friend of my parents had his third heart attack in California a couple of years ago - $10000 a day in intensive care for four days. Total bill was about $120000.

And they are still arguing with the insurance company who have denied cover. When they filled out the details on the broker's website / form, they declared everything; when the insurers underwrote the policy, they say that there were no pre-existing conditions declared.

[d000hg]

Bad teeth are a result of poor dental hygiene (Orthodontics are paid for by the NHS and so is maxillofacial treatment). If you brush properly twice a day, floss daily, visit the oral hygienist every 12 months, and see your dentist annually, periodontal disease and caries are unlikely to occur. I can't see why the Taxpayer should have to pay for remedial dental work?

Annual Checkups / Oral Hygienist are around £46 IIRC? That is not expensive.

That's a load of crap. Some people have bad teeth just like others have bad hearts. And besides if my heart problem is due to a birth condition or being a fat slob, I still get free treatment so you are giving double standards in either case.

[Old Greg]

That's a load of crap. Some people have bad teeth just like others have bad hearts. And besides if my heart problem is due to a birth condition or being a fat slob, I still get free treatment so you are giving double standards in either case.

Teeth problems can also follow other medical conditions and medications.

[original PM]

Bad teeth are a result of poor dental hygiene (Orthodontics are paid for by the NHS and so is maxillofacial treatment). If you brush properly twice a day, floss daily, visit the oral hygienist every 12 months, and see your dentist annually, periodontal disease and caries are unlikely to occur. I can't see why the Taxpayer should have to pay for remedial dental work?

Annual Checkups / Oral Hygienist are around £46 IIRC? That is not expensive.

What if I am playing sport and knock some teeth out should that be free??

my teeth are pretty poor - mainly because back in the day when times were hard toothpaste was somewhat a luxury

now I look after them well but the damage has been done - is that my fault?

[Scruff]

Perhaps, I should have used the phrase "healthy teeth" as opposed to "bad teeth" but let the semantic stand.

[ASB]

When done privately my monthly treatment cost approx 11k.

9k for the drugs; 2k for the hotel/nursing services. It'snow done on the NHS, drug cost is the same.

I understand from a support group that the equivalent cost in the USA is around $75k. It's a big difference.

I imagine a large chunk of it is insurance related in the provision of the care.

[CoolCat]

The NHS is worse than the US. I lived in Chicago and saw first hand how their people get treated, both rich and poor. However the US is not the model to copy, better model is the way New Zealand does it, or Belgium. The NHS is sub 3rd world AND we all pay way too much for substandard care. It would be good if folk got bills here and saw how much the NHS was charging the government, and us through taxes, for some truely useless care.

[CheeseSlice]

The NHS is sub 3rd world

truely useless care.

Oh I see where you're coming from there. ...

...Out of space !

[vetran]

Bad teeth are a result of poor dental hygiene (Orthodontics are paid for by the NHS and so is maxillofacial treatment). If you brush properly twice a day, floss daily, visit the oral hygienist every 12 months, and see your dentist annually, periodontal disease and caries are unlikely to occur. I can't see why the Taxpayer should have to pay for remedial dental work?

Annual Checkups / Oral Hygienist are around £46 IIRC? That is not expensive.

oh another one who wants to blame the victim. nice to see an armchair dentist. You used long words.

There are many causes for bad teeth including poor health & genetic reasons.

£46 might not be much for you but for many its a day or two's wages.

£214 for bridge or crown is a weeks wages for some.

one assumes if you have lung disease you will pay because all lung problems must be the result of smoking?