Dentistry is rarely talked about in the Nat'l Healthcare debate. In the recent veto of the SCHIP legislation all the talk was on the medical side of it, there is a dental component but it's rarely discussed, politically that is. The ADA lobbied hard to keep dental care a part of the legislation and expand it and they felt like they did a good job. Problem is that, at least here in Texas, there are very few dentists that sign up for the program as the fee reimbursement is just awfull. Inorder to make the program work you have to run a ton of kids through it very efficiently, sort of factory dentistry. I guess if you signed up for the program and didn't get very many kids you could treat it like charity and treat them like regular paying patients and feel like you are just doing your part to help the poor. So this article caught my attention: Now I don't know the English situation, but I'm guess that as a dentist working for the NHS is probably results in you doing outdated antiquated procedures at very low prices, making it difficult to do modern dentistry like your collegues who have a private practice. Also I'm sure pay is low. I'll bet the NHS eventually will be taken over by foreign dentists emigrating from the former British colonies.