Re: Dentists' workmanship

From: Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS (bornfeldmung_at_dentaltwins.com)
Date: 06/08/04 

Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 14:38:59 -0400

Tony Bad wrote:
> "Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS" <bornfeldmung@dentaltwins.com> wrote in message
> news:2imcd8FoiepbU1@uni-berlin.de...
>
>> But seeing that a healthy populace is a good thing for all
>>is beyond the wisdom of my short-sighted country.
>>
>>Steve
>>
>
>
> So do you feel that instituting some form of socialized or everyone is covered
> medical care will result in a more healthy populace?
>
> Having worked in practices in three areas (both urban and rural) where
> individuals were receiving publicly funded dental care, I can tell you that
> their health was generally poorer than that of the public as a whole.
>
> There are many reasons that the label of "short-sighted" is appropriate to our
> country (US), but I do not believe a failure to provide socialized medical care
> is one of them.
>
> Your mileage may vary.
>
> T
>
>
        This is of course a very complicated issue, and we're not going to
solve it here. The devil is, as always, in the details.
        I was not practicing at the dawn of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. But
from what I've heard, the fees were initially very reasonable, and at
least in New York initially the vast majority of dental offices signed
up. But as government priorities went elsewhere (esp. Vietnam) and
funding stagnated, fees deteriorated relative to inflation, and
administrative problems frustrated most of the good practitioners who
wanted to make the system work in traditional practice settings.
Eventually the vast majority of dentists opted out; those who didn't
were either the high-volume clinics or the dentists who were out to
abuse the system.
        Since I think you're somewhere in the NY area and in practice for a
while I think you have a pretty good picture of what the situation is
like now. But I don't think having a shitty, half-hearted public
benefits program out there and using it as evidence that public support
for health care doesn't work isn't fair.
        I have a patient who is Dutch, and who lived for years in Denmark. We
once had a conversation about life in western Europe compared to the
United States. Taxation levels there are (as you probably know) much
higher than in the United States. There is much less opposition to
taxation there however, because (as she says) "At least we feel like we
are getting something for our money."
        That's the challenge here--developing a system that has enough support
from both the public and the professions to make it work. There is no
one system that is going to make everyone deleriously happy. But if
people feel they are getting something that works, there will be more
public support, and the public support will generate the political will
to develop a system everyone can live with.

Steve 

-- 
Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS
http://www.dentaltwins.com
Brooklyn, NY