While Amy’s experience is an extreme one, it highlights growing concerns about the state of the nation’s dental health.
Last week, statistics obtained by the Liberal Democrats revealed that the number of people having teeth extracted in hospital has risen by one third in the past four years.
More than 175,000 Britons had their teeth removed under general anaesthetic in 2007/08, up 40,000 on the 2003/04 figure.
The number of children having teeth out has shot up, too. But more pertinent is the fact that the rate of these extractions gathered pace after a deeply controversial contract for NHS dentists was introduced in April 2006.
Bring on single payer health care. The scary thing is all of these big government programs will work for awhile, until they break. By that time, they are too embedded in the system to undo them. The only bright spot is the U.S. government might be too broke to implement the single payer system. One can only hope.
