Trip to the dentist

In Finland, healthcare is socialized and heavily subsidized by tax money. The system is organized by municipality, and so to see a doctor, you contact your municipal health station to schedule an appointment based on the urgency of your condition. Need a check-up to refill a prescription that will expire in the month? You can get an appointment within that time. Sick and need some antibiotics? They will see you sooner. 

The system works similarly for dental care, however, the wait is much longer. In the only disdain that I have seen toward the Finnish government, my coworkers think that these long delays for dental care are due to the government restricting the number of dentists that are trained, when clearly there is a need for more dentists and the schools are capable of handling more trainees. You are guaranteed a check-up within 6 months of your initial call. In my case, I called at the end of April and received a letter at the beginning of June stating that a time had been reserved for me in early July and I was to call to confirm or reschedule the appointment. The letter also stated that I would be penalized €33.90 (about $40) if I was a no-show. I wonder if this fee is enough motivation for patients to remember their appointments?

Anyway, I went to the dentist and was struck by what I found in the waiting room: a price list for the services. Not only that, the prices were unbelievably low! Lunch out in Finland will cost you more than many of these services. Sorry for the quality of the picture, I was trying to be discreet.

The dentist inspected my teeth in a 10-15 minute appointment and recommended that I see an oral hygienist to have my teeth cleaned. Here is my only complaint: this requires another appointment at a separate location, which to me is tedious. In the US, a dental appointment includes a cleaning, which is very convenient. 

If all of this is unsuitable to your needs, there are private dental clinics. You can get an appointment much sooner, however, I hear that the prices are much much higher than the municipal dentist. In addition, if you have tooth pain and you contact your municipal dental clinic, they will arrange an appointment for you at a private clinic if they cannot find an appointment at a nearby municipal clinic in a reasonable amount of time. In these cases, you will be billed the municipal fees. However, you cannot lie about a tooth ailment in order to secure a check-up: the phone operator asks which tooth is causing you discomfort and the dentist will only inspect this tooth rather than performing an entire exam.

The scheduling system does not earn my praise, but the transparency in charges certainly does. As I have learned in my time here, things are different and differences aren't always bad. In fact, it is through differences that we learn.