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Crooked smiles are more to do with fewer people having orthodontic treatment, not fillings. Also, dentists in most countries are, in one way or another, paid fo
by foldr 3y ago
Crooked smiles are more to do with fewer people having orthodontic treatment, not fillings. Also, dentists in most countries are, in one way or another, paid for the work they do, so this perverse incentive exists pretty much everywhere. Whatever problems may be specific to the UK can't simply be explained by the fact that dentists get money in return for performing dental procedures.
- nonrandomstring 3y agoLet me be clearer: Multiple Brits now in their 70s and 80s have told me how school dentists in the "old days" routinely performed surgery that was unnecessary, and ultimately harmful.
- foldr 3y agoSure, that may be true. My point is that if that happened to an unusual extent, it's unlikely to be merely because the dentists were paid for doing the surgery. Most dentists in most countries get paid for their work and can get more money by doing more of it.
- nonrandomstring 3y agoThere's a name for this paradox/mode-of-failure, where the incentive to help/care produces harm. It's "Iatrogenics" [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iatrogenesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iatrogenesis