Re: I've seen things you people wouldn't believe...

In article <roIOj.11776$yD2.246@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Jette <bosslady@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

eah, in the UK up till fairly recently dentists would only consider
braces for teeth for actual _problems_ such as badly misaligned teeth,
whereas in the US fixing purely cosmetic problems seemed to be more
accepted. Probably because in the UK our generation mostly got our
dentistry on the NHS who weren't too concerned with our vanity,
whereas in the US they have always had private dentists. When you're
paying for it you might as well go the whole hog and have teeth that
look as good as they work.


I don't follow the final part of that. If you have the choice between
straightening your teeth for cosmetic purposes or not doing so, I would
think the fact that you would have to pay for the straightening would
make you less likely to do so, not more.

And, of course, the beginning of what I quoted implies that it wasn't
the patient's decision at all but the dentist's. In which case the
relevant question is the incentives to the dentists under the two
systems, not what the patients wanted.

--
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/ http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
Author of _Harald_, a fantasy without magic.
Published by Baen, paperback in bookstores now
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