There is a conflict of interest when dentists advise on tooth care.

You say - "Scholarships available" I am so tired of that argument. Yeah school is free, that why the country is drowning in student loan debt. Truth - Scholarship's are free. You say - "There are no tooth repair option at walmart, period. There are stop gaps to delay your dentist appointment and the only reason you would delay something like that is because of the expense or fear." Truth - I need to go to the dentist I call Dental offices until I find one that can schedule me an appointment for that afternoon. You say - "The plasma innovation is a surgical one and is not related to conflict of interest because that innovation only applies after the teeth have failed to the point of surgery. And Oral surgery is not dentistry, its oral surgery, hence the alternate name. Oral surgeon are not dentists, they are surgeons that specialize in the mouth, surgeons have no conflict of interest like dentists, if at all." Truth - Oral Surgery is a recognised international specialist training course in Dentistry. (http://en.wikipedia.org...) You say - "The assumption that regulation equals safety is a debate in and of itself, one could easily argue intense regulation is a blight on safety in the long term by inhibiting innovation." Truth - Innovation does not equal safety. RJ Reynolds Tobbaco recently introduced Camel Crush cigarettes. These innovative new cigarettes feature a capsule of menthol in the filter that you crush with your teeth to add menthol flavor at will. Innovative, yes. Safe, no. You say - "Did you not state that dentist have a free market? So which is it? They are totally regulated and safe or the market weeds out ones that are not. Mexico has laws against incompetence in the field of medicine just like every other developed country. It's not a desert full of mud huts and savages you know." Truth - Mexico's safety regulation is not near as strict as safety regulation in the US. Google it. The bit where you speak of mud huts is very irrelevant? Perhaps you are attempting to paint me as a racist by speaking down to me in such a fashion? I do not know. Your muddled thinking is not easy for me to follow. You say - "I don't know, usually when I'm in excruciating pain I don't stop to run a back ground check. Being poor I don't have many "elective" procedures done." Truth - Your poverty or ignorance that commiting crimes will cause a dentist to lose their license has no bearing on your assertation that there is a conflict of interest when dentists advise on tooth care. You say - "Assuming the American way is the best way does make you ethnocentric and elitist. Prove that the Mexican system is less effective. If anything I'd say it's more effective against incompetence because the Mexican judicial system is quite harsh compared to ours. you screw up someone's face you might get harsh jail time there, not a law suit." Truth - I never said that the American way is the best way. Why must you try to make me look like a racist? You state the "American way". America is a mixture of all races, yes? Believe me. I am no racist, and even if I was it would have no bearing/context in this debate. What bearing on "There is a conflict of interest when dentists advise on tooth care" does this have? Also - malpractice in Mexico does not result in jailtime. Google that as well. You would do well to verify your claims. You say -"If dentists did not fix problems with teeth, there would not be any dentists for very long." "Do you know that having teeth pulled was once done at your local barber, along with blood letting?" - Did you know that once once 1 in 4 women died in childbirth? You say there has been no innovation in Dentristy but the fact that I know longer go to the barber to have my teeth pulled after I drink a bottle of whiskey is definately an innovation.... You say - "So if tooth decay is so well understood why can't it be cured or utterly prevented? You know what else we understand? Polio. Small pox. Leprosy. Yellow fever. Malaria. I respect Wikipedia as a source. If tooth decay is well understood which I grant, then the lack of a cure could indicate a lack of interest in a real cure." - We understand AIDS. There is no cure. There is a global effort. Allow me to point you here (http://www.iadr.com...) - this is a link to the International Association for Dental Research. There is not sufficient space for me to publish all of the innovations and scientific advances that have come from this institute. Go and read for yourself. and - the cure for tooth decay is to stop eating things that decay the teeth. As virtually every food decays the teeth to SOME degree... You say - I mean really, tooth care amounts to poison baths and scraping. I think we should be able to do better. I don't blame dentists for causing tooth decay I blame dentists for not presenting better alternatives of prevention and repair. - Do you watch TV? Dentists reccomend preventative care products constantly. Have you ever been to a dentist? Every time I go I am listening to the Dentist chide me for 30 minutes about my smoking and the effect it has upon the mouth. He talks of it the entire time I am there. You say "I don't think you understand the word innovate. Telling me not to crash on my bike to prevent head injury is not an innovation. A helmet is." - Innovation as defined by Merriam Websters: the introduction of something new Some Dental Innovations: taken from http://www.simplyteeth.com... "Remarkable advances in human molecular genetics are developing therapeutic approaches to many oral health diseases, ranging from passive immunization for dental caries, induction of new bone and cartilage tissues, to the artificial synthesis of saliva for patients suffering from xerostomia." "Additional scientific progress in the neuro-sciences will have broad implications for the diagnosis of ...neuromuscular related conditions e.g. facial and dental trauma, bruxism, Bell's palsy, temporomandibular joint disorders and the management of facial pain." "Innovative developments in biotechnology are to design and fabricate bioceramics to be used in the replacement of human enamel or dentin on the surface of teeth." - U.S. Surgeon General's Report We review some of the current advanced technologies and procedures used in dentistry. Treatment of decay with air abrasion Treatment of decay and gum problems with the dental lasers Digital x-ray imaging Intra-oral computer camera Tissue engineering These things that you adamenly state do not exist, in fact, clearly do. The fact that Dentistry is coming up with all of these innovative new ways to prevent and treat difficulties of the mouth and teeth prove that there is no conflict of interest. If there were a conflict of interest Dentists would not be so quick to announce these things that they have innovated that will prevent problems of the teeth. It is also clear that Dentristry has come along way from "scraping" as you so un-informedly put it. It is clear from your ramblings that you have something against dentists. Despite this, there is NO conflict of interest when a dentist advises on tooth care. That is - in fact, what Dentists do. If they fail to advise properly they will be sued and lose their right to be Dentists at worst. At best they will have no business and be poor and have no standing or prestige in their profession. It is because of this that even the morally unscrupulous individuals who practice dentristry do the best that they can. No one goes through all of the things that are required to become a Dentist becase they want to be bad at their profession or get sued or even lose their right to practice (6-8 years of school thrown away). Because of these things the potential for a conflict of interest is negated very clearly.