[jfruh]

I don't disagree with you, but I wonder if this situation would be covered by the law as AFAIK dental coverage isn't part of the plan. It boggles my mind that medical conditions that arise your teeth and gums (which, as this anecdote illustrates, are fully capable of killing you) are treated as an entirely different thing as diseases that happen elsewhere in the body.

[kennu]

That sounds just silly. Here in Finland, we can actually choose to either use free public dental care, or go to a more expensive private doctor and pay the difference.

Dental care is essential. Even if you don't have pain, constant inflammation can cause you all sorts of problems.

[_delirium]

Oddly enough, here in Denmark, which otherwise has very strong social services, dentists for adults aren't covered, though their cost is partly subsidized (dental care for children is covered).

[bjornsing]

Same in Sweden. There's even been some scandals about local governments refusing to pay for (more expensive) treatments for people who cannot afford them and are on welfare, instead having their teeth pulled out. Rather sad for a country with a 45-50% total tax burden. :/

[itmag]

Yeah, I always thought it was odd that I had to get a special insurance for dental work. This is supposed to be a socialist land of milk & honey, not cold-hearted America :p

Sweden used to be all about reaping the benefits of both capitalism and socialism, but now our gov't seems to take a perverse joy in making it a "worst of both worlds" type of country.

I would be curious to know what countries today offer what Sweden used to offer. New Zeeland? Canada? Denmark?

[mwilcox]

Same in New Zealand. Free for under 18, but after that you have to pay. However, if you have an accident and need medical care, it's covered under the government. If it's due to negligence, then, well, you're responsible.

When I was a child (8 or 9, can't remember) I chipped my front tooth on a trampoline. All my checkups, x-rays, caps, etc., and eventually a root canal and crown were covered, even 10 years afterwards.

[megablast]

Dentists are not covered in Australia, but are in the UK. I had to go to a free Dental Hospital, which does emergency work for free.

[justincormack]

Again not all dental work is free in the uk either.

[bobwebb]

I think it depends. There are NHS dentists and private dentists. I think the private ones' main advantage is that they have shorter waiting lists.

[DanBC]

People pay for treatment under the NHS. The cost is very much less than private dentists. Some people (limited income) get free treatment.

Children get free treatment.

Finding an NHS dentist can be tricky.

[cybertron]

Same goes for america if you are on medicaid. They only cover up to 21 years and then they drop you, as if dentist work is merely cosmetic. And even with private insurance, across the board, only 50% is covered, so that root canal is still going to cost you about $750 out of pocket. It's a total joke.

[hpaavola]

Dental care in Finland is not free, only heavily subsidized. The prices vary a bit from district to district, here are the prices for Helsinki http://www.hel.fi/hki/terke/en/Patient+Fees/Table+of+patient...

So for example removal of tooth would be: dentist 9.60 € /visit + tooth removal 13.80 – 27.50 €

[kennu]

You are right of course, I just count it as "free" when the payment is pretty much symbolic compared to the real cost.

[click170]

"dental coverage isn't part of the plan"

Healthcare, at least where I'm from, doesn't cover preventative dentistry, but it does include anything life threatening which includes the situation from the article. I would sincerely hope the US system would behave similarly.

[_delirium]

US health insurance tends to distinguish based on the location whether it's "dental" or "medical": if an infection sends you to the hospital, then it's medical, but if you go to the dentist to get it fixed, then it's dental. Typically the latter wouldn't get covered by health insurance regardless of severity.

There are some miscellaneous oddities; for example, if you visit a dentist and have antibiotics prescribed, typically the visit won't be covered (it's a dentist so counts as dental), but the antibiotics will be covered (they're a medical prescription).

[bdonlan]

The problem is, the average person can't tell whether a toothache is a minor, non-covered issue, or a life-threatening problem that would be eligible for coverage - without going to see a dentist out-of-pocket, that is.

[hobin]

That's not too hard. Having a minor or even a somewhat annoying toothache for a day won't kill you. As can be seen in the article, such infections don't develop overnight. Just wait a few days, and if you still need to use ibuprofen or what have you to make it go away, then you can be sure you need to go visit a dentist. Making it a habit to use painkillers to deal with toothache = bad.

[dedward]

most people with impacted, rotting, painful wisdom teeth know damn well they need to have it taken out. some just decide not to because nobody likes the dentist and they think it will just go away.

[hobin]

Truth be told, in most cases, it will 'just go away'. (Read: said tooth will fall out, and it will HURT.) Though it's better not to take these kind of chances.

[mahyarm]

In BC, Canada at least, dental services are not covered. But it might be if it's something life threatening as this.

And doctor's visits for non-residents are about $40 in Ontario.