I live in canada where health care is free but why is dental not covered,isnt a smiling face important?

You people above are ALL WRONG.





Dentistry (most of it) isnt' simply cosmetic. Untreated decay can result in dibilitating infections, just like untreated diabetes, to cite just one example.





Also, in case you haven't noticed, the mouth is CONNECTED to the rest of the body. You can't drop it off like the dry cleaning and worry about it later.





To answer your question, the reason it's not covered? MONEY!!!!! $$$$$$ It would COST more and then taxes would go up and no one wants to raise taxes even for worthy issues like this.





if you don't LIKE that (and if you don't like having lots of uninsured people in the US, you Yanks out there!) try voting for more socialists... lol.

I live in canada where health care is free but why is dental not covered,isnt a smiling face important?
Yeah, well, it's more important to spend billions of dollars in Iraq than to waste it on oral health care on our own citizens, right?





Oh, wait.... Report It

Reply:because medical doctors specializes on the whole body, dentist is more concerned of the teeth alone and sorrounding parts, so medical and dental field have different or own specialization.
Reply:Hey, at least your not in England, they dont have dentists!
Reply:Dentists are a separate entity, doctors are controlled by the government, dentistry is considered cosmetic. I liked Steve O answer, at least we have dentists.
Reply:Yes, firstly your taxes will go up, up, up.


Secondly, dental treatment is very open to rorting by overservicing or poor quality. Just look at what happened in the UK under the NHS. It's very difficult to police.


Public health systems for the poorer members of the community (like we have in Australia) have long waiting lists, and have financial restraints such that treatment like RCTs, crowns just aren't offered. It's largely made up of emergency treatment, fillings, extractions, and ultimately plastic dentures.