Free Republic

Rising costs under President Joe Biden are not an optical illusion. Prices of dental care, eye care, and personal care have increased since 2023, March Consumer Price Index (CPI) data revealed Wednesday: — Dental services: Up 4.1 percent since March 2023 / Down 0.5 percent since February 2024 — Eyeglasses and eye care: Up 3.1 percent since March 2023 / Up 0.0 percent since February 2024 — Personal care products: Up 3.4 percent since March 2023 / Up 0.2 percent since February 2024 Overall, the consumer price index rose 0.4 percent in March compared with February. The headline index is...

When an orthodontist asked the reporter if he wanted a good story idea, the reporter, of course, said "yes." Jeff Donn, a national writer with The Associated Press and 2012 Pulitzer finalist, was doubtful, at first, about that tip from his son's orthodontist: There's no solid evidence that flossing actually works. "But when I started to look at research, I realized that it was a good tip — and definitely the best one I ever got from an orthodontist." As a reporter who's covered the dangers of aging nuclear power plants, drug safety and abandoned oil wells, Donn was attracted...

The agony of root canal surgery and the need for tooth fillings could soon be ended after scientists discovered a way to make a rotting tooth repair itself using a laser beam. Just five minutes under a laser was enough to kickstart the healing process inside the mouth, the researchers found. The new technique—although only tested on rats so far—could prevent the need for fillings for some types of decay, and may eventually replace painful and expensive root canal treatment. Researchers, which included experts from the US government’s dental research team, found a blast of intense light from a laser...

The Great Len Penzo has asked me, nay, compelled me to write a post for you, his followers, on how to save money at the dentist. Well, he came to the right guy because I may just be the only practicing dentist/personal finance blogger on the planet. Pretty cool, huh? So today I’ll share with you some of the best things you can do to save money on dental care so you don’t go broke at the dentist. Dental care, like any other kind of health care, isn’t cheap. So it’s great to be able to save some money any...

Being told you have a cavity is one of the most cringe-worthy bits of information that could ever grace your ears. Going under the dentist's drill to have a pearly white repaired is expensive, time-consuming, and sometimes painful, but that may soon change thanks to researchers at the University of Leeds' School of Chemistry. A high-tech fluid is being developed there that could help your teeth repair themselves before they ever become a problem. [...]

By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor The shake-up of NHS dentistry has been condemned as a failure after official figures showed fewer people are receiving health service treatment. More than 300,000 people lost their NHS dentist in three months alone Eight hundred thousand fewer people saw an NHS dentist in the two years up to December than in the last two years under the old dental contract. The shake-up was aimed at simplifying the payments system, encouraging more preventive work and reducing the 'drill and fill' culture in NHS dentistry. But the contract was so unpopular many dentists left the NHS...

LONDON (AP) — A shortage of National Health Service dentists in England has led some people to pull out their own teeth — or use super glue to stick crowns back on, a study says. Many dentists abandoned Britain's publicly funded health care system after reforms backfired, leaving a growing number of Britons without access to affordable care. "I was not surprised to hear those horror stories," said Celestine Bridgeman, 41, of London. "Trying to find good NHS dentists is like trying to hit the lottery because the service is underfunded." The National Health Service provides care to the vast...

Canada's War on Poverty: Why is he out of work? February 10, 2007 Jason Jones is a natural for a sales job. Trouble is, many people can't see past his mouth. Painful rot forced him to pull almost all of his teeth. This is the state of dental care for our working poor - Jason Jones is 25 years old, and nearly all his teeth are missing. Decayed to the bone, his nerves exposed, the years of endless pain led Jones to seek the removal of his teeth, using his wife's entire savings to pay the oral surgeon's $600 fee....

Lost teeth linked to dementia By Fiona Govan (Filed: 20/06/2005) Losing teeth at a young age could be an early warning of Alzheimer's in later life, research suggests. A study of identical twins has found a strong link between gum disease marked by teeth loss and the brain disease. Scientists believe early exposure to inflammation, which can accompany gum disease, quadruples the risk of developing the disease in old age. However, inherited genes for Alzheimer's are a much bigger risk factor. Researchers from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, used a Swedish registry of twins to identify 109 "discordant"...

A sleepy Hungarian border town where life revolved for generations around the local cabbage crop has been transformed by the whirr of hundreds of dentists' drills. Bridges and crowns have replaced vegetables as the mainstay of Sopron's booming economy as Western "tooth tourists" flock across the old Iron Curtain for cut-price dental work in the former Communist state. The potholed roads and crumbling homes of less than a decade ago have disappeared, replaced by tree-lined pedestrian precincts, pavement cafes and designer clothes shops. The secret of the town's economic success is easy to identify, especially at weekends when hundreds of...

Dental Damnation How does a nearly blind dentist who is illegally operating out of his Berkeley home get official referrals from the state's largest dental insurer? BY WILL HARPER will.harper@eastbayexpress.com He has described himself as "nearly blind." He is illegally operating a dental office out of his Berkeley home, where a homeless man with no teeth lives in his backyard. An ex-patient says the dentist's wife once walked through the waiting room naked. And the state dental board cited him last month for having an unsafe and unsanitary office. Meet Donald P. DeBerry, a wacky septuagenarian DDS to whom...

Drugs' Toll on Teeth is Just the Start; Heavy Drinking, Drug Abuse Present Health Complications for Dental Treatment 12/10/03 8:30:00 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk, Health Reporter Contact: Susan Urbanczyk, 312-440-4308 or susanu@agd.org, or Jennifer Starkey, 312-440-4341 or jennifers@agd.org, both of the Academy of General Dentistry CHICAGO, Dec. 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Patients shouldn't be offended if their dentist asks if they recently smoked pot, snorted cocaine or took a hit of ecstasy; if they have a history of drug abuse; or if they are a recovering alcoholic. Honest answers to these questions provide crucial information that could affect...