Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> >   I assume getting an artificial tooth to replace it is such a specialized
> > form of "cosmetic" surgery that the health care system isn't going to pay
> > for such things there?

> It's not cosmetic if you're fixing an infection. "Cosmetic" generally means 
> "voluntary" in this sort of thing.  So if the dentist says "You need a 
> denture there to keep the teeth from shifting inappropriately" it's not 
> cosmetic, any more than a prosthetic limb is.

  Losing one tooth is certainly not a severe impairment, and one could
argue that fixing it with an artificial tooth is more of a cosmetic fix
than a necessary one (in most countries with a public health care system
the system usually doesn't pay for unnecessary cosmetic surgery, unless
it can be demonstrated that the life of the patient gets severely degraded
without the surgery). Of course I'm not a medical professional, much less
a dentist, so I have no idea how they classify this. I assume it's up to
the doctor to decide if the operation is necessary or not.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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