William Kelly, 43, extracted part of his own tooth, leaving a black stump. He plans to pull one more.
Posted on 05/07/2006 4:34:12 AM PDT by aculeus
ROCHDALE, England, May 2 — "I snapped it out myself," said William Kelly, 43, describing his most recent dental procedure, the autoextraction of one of his upper teeth.
Now it is a jagged black stump, and the pain gnawing at Mr. Kelly's mouth has transferred itself to a different tooth, mottled and rickety, on the other side of his mouth. "I'm in the middle of pulling that one out, too," he said.
It is easy to be mean about British teeth. Mike Myers's mouth is a joke in itself in the "Austin Powers" movies. In a "Simpsons" episode, dentalphobic children are shown "The Big Book of British Smiles," cautionary photographs of hideously snaggletoothed Britons. In Mexico, protruding, discolored and generally unfortunate teeth are known as "dientes de ingles."
But the problem is serious. Mr. Kelly's predicament is not just a result of cigarettes and possibly indifferent oral hygiene; he is careful to brush once a day, he said. Instead, it is due in large part to the deficiencies in Britain's state-financed dental service, which, stretched beyond its limit, no longer serves everyone and no longer even pretends to try.
Mr. Kelly, interviewed in a health clinic here as he waited for his son to see a doctor, last visited a dentist six years ago, in Sussex.
Since moving to Rochdale, a working-class suburb of Manchester, he has been unable to find a National Health Service dentist willing to take him on.
Every time he has tried to sign up, lining up with hundreds of others from the ranks of the desperate and the hurting — "I've seen people with bleeding gums where they've ripped their teeth out," he said grimly — he has arrived too late and missed the cutoff.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
William Kelly, 43, extracted part of his own tooth, leaving a black stump. He plans to pull one more.
Coming soon to the USA, compliments of the Democrat Party.
I don't like dentists either. I take care of my teeth.
But he better hurry before we get nationalized dental Hillary-care or he'll suffer the same fate here.
Leni
I wouldn't be surprised if there were criminal penalties for contracting private medial/dental care. The State can't have its clients wandering off the reservation; wouldn't be 'fair'.
America's orthodontists can get more money for 50 cents worth of wire than oil companies get for 2,000 gallons of gas LOL.
I didn't know they had dentists in England. LOL!
If that guy is only 43, he has a lot more issues than just teeth, dude doesn't look a day under 60
please forward ping to http://clinton.senate.gov/contact/
Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) showed how to do it in one of his early 1/2-hour shows. Very easy, and he extracted ALL his teeth, upper, lower, left and right.
I hate to say it, but American kids' teeth are getting bad too. It's amazing how many students at school don't brush their teeth - all nasty yellow and full of gunk and plaque.
Well that's just about useless. If you're going to go without a dentist you need to brush at least twice a day and more importantly floss! A fluoride rinse isn't a bad idea either.
Yuck, I can't imagine brushing my teeth only once a day.
ping
That is exactly it.. in England dentists are part of the government health system. The English people's renowned poor teeth is a visible reminder of what happens to society as it is 'socialized'.
When I saw the headline, I immediately thought of that episode.
Many British citizens are taking extended medical holidays to India to have surgery they can't get performed in the U.K. Also, Indian doctors are flying into the U.K. and performing surgeries in rented operating rooms after hours. Not sure how they get past the U.K. laws, but I learned about it in my globalization classs.
http://www.traveliteindia.com/medical.asp
Just check out these prices for dental work (1/10th the price).
Dental procedure Cost in US ($) Cost in India ($)
General Dentist Top End Dentist Top End Dentist
Smile designing - 8,000 1,000
Metal Free Bridge - 5,500 500
Dental Implants - 3,500 800
Porcelain Metal Bridge 1,800 3,000 300
Porcelain Metal Crown 600 1,000 80
Tooth impactions 500 2,000 100
Root canal Treatment 600 1,000 100
Tooth whitening 350 800 110
Tooth colored composite fillings 200 500 25
Tooth cleaning 100 300 75
He doesn't look a day under 83, and I see he has money for tattoos, but none for dental care. And didn't we just get the news that the Brits are healthier than Americans?
Now don't you guys who keep cracking jokes at the Brits feel a little guilty?
He doesn't look that bad - considering he's 180 years old and subsists on human blood.
Oh, I get it!
This thread is about outsourcing teeth.
Just ignore your teeth... and they will go away
Britain has too few public dentists for too many people. At the beginning of the year, just 49 percent of the adults and 63 percent of the children in England and Wales were registered with public dentists.
And now, discouraged by what they say is the assembly-line nature of the job and by a new contract that pays them to perform a set number of "units of dental activity" per year, even more dentists are abandoning the health service and going into private practice — some 2,000 in April alone, the British Dental Association says.
Just 33 percent of the Rochdale population is signed up with a state dentist, down from 58 percent in 1997.
Nor is the level of care what it might be.
The system...encourages state dentists to see too many patients in too short a time and to cut corners by, for instance, extracting teeth rather than performing root canals.
LOL!
The National Health Service is about equivalent to Medical here. Many people have private insurance which equates to private insurance here.
Yes, there are long waiting lists for elective procedures, but no one is denied emergency care and there are no horrid bills coming along later.
Not necessary. Anyone willing to pay full price can get to see a dentist over here in fairly short order. It's in the state-subsided sector that demand massively outstrips supply.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
thxn for the ping. These sorts of stories are great.
Lord have mercy.
1. Sarah Lyall is the Times staffer who wrote the article.
2. I started reading this story this morning. I know it's not really funny, but I couldn't help it. I started making noises like Muttley from "Wacky Races".
Hmmm. Either I overlooked her byline or it wasn't up when I posted.
Apologies to Sarah!
Self ping for later.
He brushes once a day? I grew up by the rule that one should brush at least twice a day.
If that guy is only 43, he has a lot more issues than just teeth, dude doesn't look a day under 60
Meth...
It's already here, and it's not attributable to the Democrats.
You have to show a passport to buy (formerly) over-the-counter cold medication these days, and I don't know what you have to do (other than go to veterinary sources) in order to get antibiotics.
Good news is he can spit sunflower seeds 20 meters.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Ping.
There wiould be. It would be considered a crime like paying for sex.
Only you can bet that the State would punish the "back alley" dentist more than (A) the back alley abortionist, or (B) the back alley prostitute.
I wonder if people who pull their own teeth out can get charged for practicing dentistry without a liscence? :)
If someone who had a bit of skill tried to help some of these people, but wasn't 'liscenced' he'd be thrown in jail in a NY minute.
Most American kids get orthodontics regardless of whether they really need them or not. Braces have a way of permanently discoloring and ruining teeth. That's what you are seeing.
Orthodontists are the biggest scam artist. In a perfect world they would end up at the bottom of the ocean under the lawyers.
He could take a cheap flight to the US for some decent dentistry -- or to Costa Rica. I've heard that people are flying into Costa Rica for a few days of extensive dental surgery done by good dentists at rates one fifth of US rates. (Check it out yourself -- I'm not totally sure -- only pretty sure that it was Costa Rica that was mentioned.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.