The British and their odd ways

[Teuton]

@RobDog

Ahem. Yours might be prettier old chap, but ours are healthier.

From the link:

Polish children have the worst teeth in any OECD country; a 12 year old has nearly four teeth that are missing, decayed or have a filling.

Am I the only one who winces at language like that? Would it cost them so much to put an ‘average’ in there somewhere, so it doesn’t sound like every 12 yr old has nearly four problem teeth?
I believe the NHS dentists for kids is largely responsible for the good dental health of the UK’s children. But orthodontics for teeth straightening and alignment is not available on the NHS, unless there is a clinical need.

[eastcheap]

@carnivorousplant

It is probably due to the same diet that causes so many of us to be overweight.

Well…maybe, though it’s not like the British diet is above reproach. I think it more likely that low-income British children have better access to reasonably decent (albeit no-frills) dental care.

Also, I wonder what the stats would look like if you could somehow eliminate all of the completely useless fillings.

(Heck, one particularly enterprising quack put gold overlays on all of my deciduous molars for absolutely no reason except, perhaps, that he was late on a boat payment. My next dentist was horrified.)

Somehow, I can’t picture an NHS dentist being all that eager to perform unnecessary procedures.

[carnivorousplant]

@eastcheap

Well…maybe, though it’s not like the British diet is above reproach. I think it more likely that low-income British children have better access to reasonably decent (albeit no-frills) dental care.

…

Somehow, I can’t picture an NHS dentist being all that eager to perform unnecessary procedures.

Good points.
My dentist in Memphis, however, didn’t put braces on me because he thought it would be a waste of money, so I still have an overbite.

[SciFiSam]

@Teuton

From the link:

Am I the only one who winces at language like that? Would it cost them so much to put an ‘average’ in there somewhere, so it doesn’t sound like every 12 yr old has nearly four problem teeth?
I believe the NHS dentists for kids is largely responsible for the good dental health of the UK’s children. But orthodontics for teeth straightening and alignment is not available on the NHS, unless there is a clinical need.

If there’s a cosmetic need there will also be a clinical need, so that’s not a problem. Overlapping teeth are much more prone to infection, for example.

My daughter’s teeth were fine to look at, but the NHS dentist and brace specialist both said she could have a (free) brace because of the way her teeth were developing into a slight overbite which counted as a clinical need.