Originally posted by
[email protected] 22 2004, 10:50 PM
Yes, yet the british who have public-funded orthodontists (so long as you keep attending) and private ones have a reputation for bad teeth
What is that?
Hmm, let's see...
People from the US have a reputation for being overweight and lazy.
Is that true too?
---Edit---
I supose I had better expand before mud starts getting slung around.
People in the UK are less interested in changing their physical appearance to conform to some standard banged out by some West Coast US stamping factory somewhere.
We are less likely to undergo cosmetic surgery to enhance a breast of correct a nose line. Our women do not strive to look like some large chested blonde with apple pie looks. We appreciate individuality and uniqueness.
This runs to dental treatment too. We are less interested in having two rows of polished white tombstones in our mouths. Whiteness is a sign of brittle teeth (in nature anyway), healthy teeth should have a slight yellow colouring to them.
Personally, I find two perfect rows of teeth unnerving to look at; it is unnatural.
It is true though that dental care in the UK is in a shambles. However, dentists have never truely been part of the NHS (National Health Service). They have been private practicioners that sub-contract work from the NHS. This led to dentists performing unneccesary dental work on patients because the NHS mostly just paid up without question. The NHS cracked down on this malpractice and many dentists left the NHS contractor list.
It is not the NHS that is failing in this instance, it is the private practitioners that got greedy that ruined it for all.
Many of the NHS' problems stem from the government trying to privatise bits of it off. There is only one way for a hospital to attract private investors and that is for it to make money. This is inimicable to the methods and ideals of the NHS.