Busty2

I read your views and like they say you are entitled to your opinion, BUT!

To be fare / fair you are probably too young to remember how dentists use to operate 60 years ago, they used gas to put you out ( novocaine was not available in the UK then ) and if the smell wasn't enough to stop you from going back, the fact that you could wake up during an operation ( removal of a molar for example) was so off putting people avoided them like the plague. I remember having a tooth removed due to botched dental work and waking up with blood pouring from my gums which had been sliced open so that the dentist could remove the roots he had left behind during the extraction !
Most of the history of bad teeth in the UK can be traced to WW2 which resulted in a lack of fresh vegetables, they only had powdered eggs and milk and peoples teeth just fell out or had to be removed due in part to lack of fresh food. Also remember the smoking habit in the UK was at epidemic proportions, this also contributed to bad teeth and decay. You only have to look at Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont now, to see the results of smoking and lack of dental care. Here 80% of people i see have terrible teeth if they are lucky enough to even have their own teeth and it's not just adults, kids here have some serious issues with their teeth.
When i left the UK 20 years ago dentists where charging for their services over and above what the NHS paid and most people went for check ups every 6 -12 months or so, unless that has all changed since i left ?