For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 23, 2012

Two missed or ignored appointments in a week, and it’s no longer an emergency. Be glad he’s still willing to try to squeeze you in.

Here’s a pair of Vise Grips™, knock yourself out.

Drop him as an unreliable patient, John. Then maybe he’ll realize how good he has it.

Wait till he tells you he forgot his wallet.

…and, “Would you bill my insurance first and see what they pay?”As Foghorn Leghorn said, “That guys got more nerve than a bum tooth.”

Here’s a piece of string and there’s a door… you could take care if it right now, if that’s more convenient.

It’s the price you pay for being a jerk!!

Well, I am self employed, I go to the dentist twice a year, and here’s a concept—I pay for it myself. Yep, I suck it up and pay for it. I’m not wealthy, my husband and I only have one car, and yet I manage to pay for it myself. If I need a crown, we cut back on other things until it’s paid for.

On another note, I often feel sorry for doctors. I had one tell me once that one reason they are always behind is people call in with a single complaint and then when the doc comes in they have a laundry list. He said he wished people would just tell the receptionist when they call that they have several things that need to be discussed.

In Quebec, we didn’t get adult national dental, but our employers were required to provide eye and dental.

I would make him wait until he was near faint from the pain…

YEP, you might just have WAIT!! Sorry…it is NOT ALL ABOUT YOU!!

John is so insensitive! Why can’t he work on two patients mouths at the same time? Should be simple.

When Obamacare kicks in, we all will be waiting out in hallways of doctors’ offices.

Yes, in the US Gov’t health care does not cover dental or glasses.I messed up by not getting all my dental work done before I retired. (A filling or extraction now costs three days income on SS)

Three weeks income for a crown!

John, tell him to come back tomorrow. That will fix him!

Amazing how pain can be a driving force to get dental work done.I read once where a lady was having severe pain, and finally got the dentist to work her in. Her response was that wouldn’t work – that was the time for her beauty shop appointment!

Dentistry is the only part of the NHS where the patient has to pay for their treatment This is why most British people try to avoid dental treatment for as long as possible, as even with NHS subsidy the cheapest treatments are £50 – £200. This is big money to many patients (wqho might only just be earning £200 a week) , but small change to dentists (who want to make several hundred thousands a year) , who as a rule prefer private practice as they can screw thousands out of the patient that way. There have been repeated scandals, from dentists not wanting to do NHS work at all (as above) to dentists who will for instance tell NHS patients they need extractions even if the tooth can be saved – as extractions are chepa to do and the practice can still make a profit even at NHS rates. The scandal of dentists refusing to give NHS patients the treatment they need, as opposed to the cheapest possible treatment consistent with making a profit, has been highlighted by several investigations and TV documenataries. We need a government that will sort this out!

I SO have this clown as a customer. And all his family & siblings.

Good things come to those who wait. And keep your appointment next time.

I think your ire should be directed toward Loy Wells,to whom howtheduck was responding.

Love . . . love . . . LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!

 

:-)

I go to the dentist every 9 months to have my teeth cleaned and to make sure nothing else is going on that should be taken care of now so that it won’t become worse later. While I have health insurance, it doesn’t cover dental expenses of any kind so those close-to-$100.00-and-climbing-every-year appointments are pretty painful to my wallet. But I’d much rather do it that way than face the alternative — which is to wait until it becomes too late to catch a small problem before it turns into a really huge several-thousand-dollar one instead.

My computer has a “character map” that contains all kinds of signs and symbols like: ♥ ♪ ♫ ¾ ¢ £ etc. Do you know if yours has one, as well?

 

Here’s how I get to mine:“Start” → “All Programs” → “Accessories” → “System Tools” → “Character Map”

 

Hope this helps!!!!!

!. Re: Today’s strip: ARRRRRGH!2. When I was with the Division of Voc. Rehab. in Florida 1982 – 1998, I’d get people who were in terrible pain because they’d seldom or never seen a dentist (many had spent $$ on tobacco, ETOH, drugs). If they met income requirements of Pinellas County Social Services, they could get extractions; they also might get low-cost treatment at a dental college.3. I was a state employee, but have opted not to have dental on my plan. Luckily, we’re able to afford it. My daugther’s family gets dental through her husband’s employer.4. Recently I found that repeated dental infection was cut WAY down after I started brushing sideways across the gum line with an electric brush (a regular brush would also work), using a little “in-between” brush to go between gaps in back teeth, and using floss. (Also put something called MI paste on gum line where there are some internal twinges going on). I use these nightly and no longer have gum pain or scolding from my dentist (watched a video to learn about this after all these years). People need education on up-to-date-dental hygiene.

Vickie Arnold: That’s what happened in Canada. As soon as a province came under Douglas’ plan, it was a six month wait for elective surgery. A year later, there was negligible wait because all those people who never could afford medical care had finally been seen. If the US ever matures to the degree that they consider a healthy citizenry to be in the national interest, the same thing will happen here. In the meantime, if you are neither rich nor lucky, you can die.

hey bozo don’t like it go somewhere else.

Totally selfish…jerk!

westny77: This bozo did. It wasn’t for the medical plan (as nice as that is), but because Nixon’s underlings’ blacklists wouldn’t let me feed my family. The main benefit, aside from keeping my family from starving, was to see some other ways of providing for the common welfare that we talk about, but won’t do anything about. And now we are drifting back to that feudalism-with-modern-gadgets again, but the kids are grown and my wife and I are barely managing on the minimum social security and Canada pension. Fortunately, both being Depression Babies, we know how to get by on minimal income. Most younger don’t because they think the corporate junta is supposed to do what civilized countries’ governments do as basic human rights. It doesn’t.

Hi to gmartin

Keyboard shortcut: hold down ALT and type 156 on the numeric keypad (ensure Num lock is turned on) This should through the magic of ASCII coding give you the pound sign. ££

Well, that’s better than the NHS, where 100,000+ every year have to have all their teeth surgically removed at a hospital because they have never been able to see a dentist. That’s what Obama-Care will be like, except it will be 100,000 people on icebergs.