Flight of the Dentists

An insensitive running joke on American late-night television is presumed poor dental care of citizens in the United Kingdom. Jay Leno, David Letterman and others regularly make fun of the apparent lack of dentists serving the Brits. Unfortunately, the joke is a reality. Currently, more than a quarter million patients in Scotland alone must forego dental treatment due to lack of dentists.

From Scotsman.com:

THE number of newly graduated dentists staying to treat patients in Scotland has plummeted, according to official figures.

The alarming statistics, revealed by the Scottish Executive, show that in 2004 a third of all students graduating from Scotland's dental schools left the country to work elsewhere. In 2003 only 11% left.

Dentists' leaders claim the appalling state of NHS funding for dental services is putting many graduates off working in practices north of the Border.

Health officials fear the fall in numbers will make it harder for the Executive to meet its target of recruiting more dentists to cut the country's dental crisis.

Hundreds of dentists are walking away from working for the socialized National Health System (NHS) and, instead, are opening private practices. The chief complaint is money. The socialized dental care scheme of the NHS apparently can't compete with the capitalist rewards of private practice. Consequently, not only are established dentists leaving the NHS, but one-third of those graduating from universities are leaving the country.

The Scottish dental crisis is not new. Last year, the government allocated increased funding of 295 million British pounds ($521 million) to encourage dentists to keep NHS patients. Apparently, it didn't work.

The British Dental Association insists the government needs to do more. This means more money and training more dentists. In the meantime, financial incentives are being offered to lure dentists from less-developed countries such as Poland.

In summary, the socialist scheme to provide everything to everybody for nothing results in the NHS leaving over 250,000 Scots with no dental care.