Will Steemers’ teeth rot if they drink lots of beer? Of course not – IF you take care of them.

My girlfriend just graduated in Dental Medicine and offers what seems to be sound advice:

1. Wash teeth twice daily (after breakfast, before sleep).
2. Floss as often as possible, at least once every few days (you hate it, admit it!)
3. Use mouthwash. It can get where toothbrush can’t.
4. Be mindful when you brush. Your teeth don’t know what you are doing, you do! Imagine each area of your teeth. Too much pressure will only hurt you and won’t help if you miss some spots. Use ROUND moves, not horizontal or you might damage enamel.
5. Best avoid brushing after eating acidic drinks and food (citrus fruits, dark chocolate)
6. Use a toothbrush with high volume of fibres (such as Curaprox)
7. Toothpaste should contain about 1450 ppm of fluoride.
8. Mandatory check-up every 6 months at the dentist’s.

In Croatia we have free public health system. Common myth! It’s not free, it’s publicly financed. You can get a check up whenever you get an appointment for symbolic price of 10 kuna (1.42$). If you want to avoid this as well as most of other costs (such as a stay in a hospital) there is a monthly fee of 70 kuna (9.97$).

Pros: cheap, available, emergencies profit!
Cons: long waiting lists (my example: visit to a dermatologist booked 5 months in advance), sloppy public health workers.

People employed in public health have a secure job with minimal supervision and not much leeway for promotions. Salary rises with how long you work (past service in years), in simplified terms.
So, I go visit my dentist. She, as usual, congratulates me and says everything is fine. My girlfriend says I should ask for dental radiograph, an x-ray that confirms the diagnosis. Minimal radiation, not dangerous if done sparingly (fun fact: flying a plane or eating bananas also exposes you to radiation). I have it here:

I wait in line to get this picture for a month! Turns out the procedure costs 25 kuna (3.70$). What do emergency patients do I wonder? Surprise, surprise, there are two spots of caries (red circles). Luckily, I have my girlfriend who’ll be happy to help me after her work hours. If I didn’t ask for this image I would be back at my dentist’s in a year with much serious issue.

What’s my problem? I feel we overpay the service which is subpar. In my latest pay check (monthly in Croatia) 1270 kuna (180.76$), 12.82% of my whole salary, went towards public health system whether I wanted it or not. To avoid participation costs of any procedure I willingly pay additional 70 kuna (9.97$) monthly (something like additional insurance). How much do I get out from this?

Wouldn’t it be better to just pay the whole price with a private practice if and when I needed health services? I don’t know.

What do you think?

Cheers!

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P.S. have a look at another recent steemit post about INSOMNIA tagged under medicine by @jinaa