Posted on 04/30/2014 1:29:59 AM PDT by Olog-hai
A new Gallup poll has revealed that 1 in 3 adults in the United States have not visited the dentist within the past year—a trend that has stayed mostly the same since 2008.
The survey is based on information gathered from interviews with more than 530,000 Americans aged 18 and older. Women were much more likely to have visited the dentist annually than men; among ethnic groups, 55 percent of blacks and Hispanics recalled visiting the dentist in the past year, compared to 70 percent of whites and Asians.
The biggest predictor of visiting the dentist was income. Individuals who made more than $120,000 a year were twice as likely to have visited the dentist than those who earn less than $12,000 a year. …
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I have insurance but haven’t been to the dentist for several years because they have become like car salesmen and I am tired of the constant sales pitches. My teeth are in pretty good shape and don’t require any major work, but they keep pressing me to spend $10k to “update” my mouth with more modern fillings even though the old ones haven’t given me any trouble for 30+ years.
I had to cancel a cleaning with my last dentist, and his office would not stop calling me to reschedule. After they called me on my cell phone in the middle of a funeral, I told them to remove me from the patient list.
I have not been to the dentist in three years. I avoid sugar and I have a sonicare and really don’t need anything other than a cleaning anyway. I do have a couple of caps that have come unglued so I should have that fixed so I don’t have to worry when I chew gum...
We went totally health insurance free beginning this year. Even if I break a limb it would cost me less than a single month’s premium. It’s simply not worth it.
I don’t go anymore, but I do try to take good care of my tooth.
Just give them a false name and pay in cash.
Those are good numbers. The lower the better. What you don’t want to hear is 5-6-7-8..
I’ve been wary of sugar ever since.
Fact is, if one avoids sugar in their diet, they may never need a dentist. Key word, “may”.
Amen. Health-care professionals carry a huge burden of responsibility for allowing the present, unacceptable mess. Their neglect of civic loyalty, to their customers, to their peers, to the nation; allowing the government to transform each of them into slaves of a fascist leviathan, is perhaps the best example of why folks who 'can't be bothered by politics' can be certain 'politics' will bother with them.
Now that they have an army of bureaucrat form-fillers and regulators breathing down their necks, they want to transfer that 'heat' onto you and me.
I still say it's 'spinach,' and I still say 'to hell with it.'
Brush with hydrogen peroxide and odds are that you can stay away for a much longer time span.
Ozone is even more effective. You can re-mineralize a tooth with it and basically eliminate gum disease. 1991 was my last visit to a dentist and that was only because his root canal cracked.
My dental insurance covers cleanings and X-rays, but if anything at all needs to be fixed, I have to pay all or part of it, and man, it’s expensive! I can see why lots of people don’t go to the dentist. And then of course, it’s going to be worse when they get a problem.
What a dumb statistic. People making over $120K are doing lots of things people making less than $12K aren't doing.
Good catch!
That $12,000.00 figure must be a mistake,but a very humorous one.
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The problem I had was finding a good dentist. Mygosh, one wanted me to open a bank line of credit before he'd begin work, even though I was paying. Another refused to pull a tooth rather than do thousands of dollars of repair on it. etc
I had to have a tooth pulled because I couldn’t afford the crown. The dentist insisted I needed to be “put to sleep” for this little procedure which would cost over $1,000. Luckily, my mother’s doctor intervened and he pulled it in 30 seconds to the tune of $200.
Our dentist.... “oh you guys have great insurance that covers $3K each per year let’s see what we can do with that!” Well when you look at that “insurance” and what you have to pay per patient to get to that $3K allowance... no way can you afford it. Costs us equal or more to that to access the benefit. If you need $1000 in work you need to be prepared to pay almost 60 percent of that to get the 40 percent insurance benefit. So if you have some crowns etc... you need to have done.. you better be able to pony up $600 each for those as your share of cost. Not sure the insurance really is worth it.
I see your point, but we are getting older and have not needed services most of our lives, but now may need them and insurance protects us. I wish I had all the premiums we have paid for for insurance we have not used.
I see your point, but we are getting older and have not needed services most of our lives, but now may need them and insurance protects us. I wish I had all the premiums we have paid for for insurance we have not used.
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