… where I describe my challenges in dealing with a mixed health care system when it comes to the art of dentistry.
Before visiting myCountry
I had marked what I believed to be a hole in one of my letters. Not wanting to do a “procedure” at my dentist in California that usually takes half a day and leaves me $500+ poorer, I decided to take my chances with my old dentist in Denmark, whom I hadn’t seen in 10 years.
So I had my parents schedule an appointment—they can double book—and here’s how it went.
First there were some issues of my residency and thus whether public health insurance would cover it. After the clinic assistant tested the other boy, it was found that they did not have it but I could get the treatment anyway if I paid the full price. It makes sense!
I then proceeded to NOT fill out a questionnaire about teeth whitening. I also did NOT fill out a detailed medical history (just a dentist for crying out loud). I especially DO NOT need to sign a 4-6 page legal waiver about not suing them if they happen to gouge my eye out with a pair, as they often do, but I think it’s possible.
I just filled in my address, it took 2 minutes.
Denmark to anyone who ignores him
😉
Since I was not a regular “customer”, I expected a full x-ray, but the dentist told me that the Nordic guidelines were not to do an X-ray unless the teeth were covered with plaque or otherwise looked bad. However, I have good teeth. Also, my papers are in order.
Then they took my “dental inventory” and the dentist went over the teeth tooth by tooth calling out the letters and numbers that the assistant removed. He noted that my filling was done very well (one point for the US dental system). I also had a regular lesson on flossing and he removed the tartar from my front teeth. Finally, he noticed that my supposed hole was just a color. Too much coffee.
Total time: 15 minutes.
Total cost: $45 (and this in the cheap dollar).
The general attitude towards dental care is conservative. If the teeth look good and there is no pain, it is assumed that there are no problems and therefore no x-rays are taken.
. The technology is functional enough in the sense that they can do anything, holes, crowns, etc. which can be made in the US. However, the dentist does all the work (except suctioning and taking notes). This means that the assistant does NOT use high-tech microscopes to film the dentist, etc. In other words, it doesn’t cost a lot of money to run a clinic. There is less focus on technology. There was no TV on the chair.
My first visit to a US dentist resulted in 6 cavities that my Danish dentist had declared dormant/not progressing for over a decade. In the US, everything is fixed by violence. Don’t even get me started on orthodontics (from the mainland now – it used to be that no one got braces unless they had a problem with chewing).
Overall, I prefer the Danish dental care system.
Copyright © 2007-2023 earlyretirementextreme.com This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. Use of this feed on other websites violates copyright. If you see this notice somewhere other than your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing a copyright violation. Some sites use random name changing algorithms to hide the origin. Find the original, unadulterated version of this post at earlyretirementextreme.com. (Digital fingerprint: 47d7050e5790442c7fa8cab55461e9ce)First posted 2009-10-22 22:37:26.
Source link
