Dental Spas ??

I was taken in right away by her shiny white teeth that glowed out of the TV into the living room like the sun. It was a commerial by a dentist for her "Dental Spa".
Her kids were in the commerical so she had to be good, right?
Dental Spa? Yes, a spa that's a dentist or a dentist that's a spa - I'm not sure which but I wanted to go.
We used to live in England. It's a wondrous place full of history, traditions, castles and friends that we will hold dear forever. It's also the home of socialized medicine. My daughter had the fortune of doing her first bit of growing up in England. She also had the misfortune of drinking their water that was just as wet as ours here in America but had NO flouride. What genius American said, "Hey, let's put flouride in our water so our kids' teeth don't rot out!" I don't know who it was - but we all owe him a great debt.
So when Arianna was 4, she got a cavity in her baby tooth. I took her to the English dentist who was, in fact, Indian. I didn't understand much of what he said but gathered that, because it was a "just" a baby tooth, they were not required to drill out the bacteria and fill it - they just filled it and hoped for the best.
"She's going to lose it anyway," he told me.
"Are there any dentists that speak good English? Where are they," I asked the attendant, frustrated that I couldn't understand why this was happening to my daughter and nothing was done.
"They go to America," whispered one of the kind English Dental Techs.
She got an infection. Then...another. Soon I was holding my four year old's hand as they knocked her out and extracted her baby tooth that could've been saved had it been dealt with properly in the first place. But it was all free: Socialized medicine.
Fast forward to today. Arianna is nine and her spacer that was put on in England has to be removed. The debacle that started in England's socialized medicine mess was about to be corrected once and for all by America's healthcare - the greatest in the world. And why not at the Dental Spa? I call and make an appointment, go to the office and start the paper work...the last page amazes me. Arianna and I read through it and tried not to giggle with excitement. It's all complimentary...you just have to put a check by the one(s) you'd like. The services include:
soft, plush robe while you get the work done
eye mask
headphones
tv, dvd, music
aromatherapy heated neck wrap
massage chair (with or without heat)
lip balm
paraffin wax mitts for your hands
jewelry cleaned
foot massaging slippers
neck and shoulder massage
sinus relief massage
headache relief massage
scalp massage
facial massage
hand massage
feet massage
While we're deciding - the happy receptionist comes out with complimentary lemon water. I make Arianna check all the boxes - for fun - and because I want to live vicariously through her.
They take her back and I soon I meet the doctor. Just as beautiful in person as she was on her commercial - bouncy, happy, smart, and she speaks plain, perfect English.
My daughter asks a question.
"What's that Bo?" she asks, caressing my daughter's arm.
She called my daughter Bo. When your child is given a nickname of endearment by a doctor coupled with an affectionate touch - approval by the beholding parent is a no-brainer. Of course she called her Bo and stroked her...because my daughter deserves to be addressed and comforted. Did that kind of interaction ever happen in England?
No. America is not only home to the best healthcare in the world but it is full of happy doctors who don't have to leave the country to get what's due them.
"They didn't get out all that baby tooth, we're going to have to get the rest out when we remove the spacer," she says. "They" being the English dentist who was Indian who did for my daughter only what the government thought she deserved - the minimum.
I said all that to say this - please don't think that socialized medicine is a good idea. It's not. I lived there. I have more stories than this. Every American should be petrified at the thought of the government being in control of medicine.
I remember being in England and having conversations about healthcare.
"Don't you have to pay some sort of deductible?" asked one informed Brit.
"Yes...yes we do."
Do I care? No. Because the feeling of taking my daughter home and knowing that she doesn't have a raging infection in her jaw that may go to her brain due to my government's lack of concern, knowledge or money is a priceless feeling.
And I'd be happy to debate it with any liberal, anytime, right after I finish my complimentary lemon water.