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> But you will brush your teeth anyway, and then you apply fluoride topically. It works. Relatively few of the poor have the disposable income, time, education
by bell-cot 2y ago
> But you will brush your teeth anyway, and then you apply fluoride topically. It works.
Relatively few of the poor have the disposable income, time, education, and long-term worldview needed to reliably do that.
EDIT: This comment is about America's poor. Though the same applies in much of the world.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- NomDePlum 2y agoI agree with this in an American context. In Sweden, it will be much less true. This difference can also however be attributed to government "interference" with higher taxation supporting better social care for those at the poorer end of the scale. Freedom comes at a cost, the US and Sweden are paying that cost in different ways.
- impossiblefork 2y agoYour GDP per capita is 50% higher than ours. You have money for this. If there's no will to raise up the poor, you it should be straightforward to use the state directly to ensure that everyone is taught how to brush their teeth and ensured to have access to brushes and toothpaste.
- fireflash38 2y agoWelcome to the USA, where using the stare to help with dental care would be communism, or socialism, or big government, or violations of freedoms.
- stavros 2y agoI agree with you, but GDP per capita isn't the correct measure here when the bottom 8% in the US has no health insurance compared to Sweden's 0%, which I have to assume because I didn't even find this measured anywhere due to universal healthcare.
- 7bit 2y agoIt's a systemic issue that can be solved with one unanimous vote in Congress, that will NEVER happen in the foreseeable future.
- stavros 2y agoThat's because Americans believe that poor people are poor because they just didn't care enough to be rich. This might have been true 200 years ago, when there was a whole unexplored continent to exploit, but it's less true now.
- scarface_74 2y agoPoor people are voting for policies that directly harm them because they don’t want other poor people and the “illegals” to benefit.
- stavros 2y agoI think that's the same mentality, "yes I'm poor now, but I'll get the break I deserve soon enough, and I don't want all these undesirables to benefit when I do".
- zenolijo 2y agoWhile Sweden has free health care, it does not completely include dental care. It's free until you turn 20, after that you pay out of your own pocket. This is to incentivize people to take care of their teeth, instead of not caring and then expecting free replacement of your teeth. One you're 20, you only get a very tiny deductible on your dental care which equates to almost the exactly the cost of a single basic check-up once a year.
- KoolKat23 2y agoIt may not completely include dental, but poor teeth health shortens your life span and they cover that at least.