Glasses (and dentists)

[MotherBear]

Like the grocery thread, these costings are very important, especially when taking into account how much one needs to stash away for the inevitable visits to the dentist and optician. ?Have to say, though, the whole thing makes me feel quite ill (book me in for a doctor's visit as well, please. If I'm going to go bankrupt I might as well go the whole hog.)

?

As we get older, more bits start to go wrong and fall off so, methinks, we're in for a rough ride. ?I think we'll invest in a good pair of pliers and a bottle of strong brandy for DIY dental work. ?For peace of mind it would be good to get private medical insurance that includes dental and optical, although this, obviously won't come cheap. ?I think, for those that return to the UK for a visit now and again, ?they might benefit from arranging optician's visits to coincide. ?Same for dental treatment if you have family who can make an advance appointment for you.

There is a worry in the back of my mind about the potential cost of medical, dental and optical treatment in NZ, but thank heaven I haven't got 4 kids to consider. ?I'm one of the lucky ones. ?[smiley=Yes.gif]

[Debd]

jeeez! How much? And how much?????
I didn't even realise that the costs were this high for either!!!
we'll be looking at insurance quotes then!

[MotherBear]

It would be very interesting to hear how you get on, Deb. [smiley=Yes.gif] I wonder how much 'peace of mind' is worth these days.

[pianist1]

Good grief! Does anyone know if the eye exams include testing for glaucoma etc? Also, does anyone know how much contact lenses cost here? I use Acuvues that I toss after 2 weeks. I still have a small stash to last a few months, but then I am out.
Those dental bills are horrendous...I tend to have lousy teeth that have cost me a lot to fix in the past. I had two gold crowns put in over a year ago in the US and they cost me US$1,500.

[MotherBear]

At least NZ has some dentists available. They seem to be so much in demand I guess they can afford to name their own price when it comes to setting their fees. :-/

Australia looks to NZ dentists to help fill gap
Tuesday October 24, 2006

Australia is looking to New Zealand to plug the holes in its dental system left by a shortage of dentists. About 215,000 people are on the public dental waiting list in New South Wales, the Australian newspaper reports.

A 65-year-old rural NSW woman, frustrated at not being able to get an appointment, had taken the pliers to her own tooth after sleepless nights became too much to bear. "I said it was really urgent, that I needed the tooth out today," Val Shorter said. "That was about 9am. They said they would ring me. By 5pm, they hadn't called, so I knew I wasn't going to get in."

Health Minister John Hatzistergos said a campaign was under way to hire 30 dentists from Britain, Ireland and New Zealand, the newspaper reported. He blamed the federal Government's failure to fund adequate training places for the shortage of public dentists. "This terrible story highlights the lack of public dentists across the state."

New Zealand has had its own troubles with dental treatment.

The Colgate Oral Health Month Survey of 8849 people undertaken in June and July revealed only 58 per cent of New Zealanders cleaned their teeth at least twice a day. At nearly 40 per cent, New Zealanders had the lowest rate of visiting the dentist on a regular annual basis, with cost a major reason.

The Government in August announced about $40 million to rebuild state-funded dental services over the next four years for children and teenagers.

In Australia, Ms Shorter said she drank a few glasses of wine before taking to the tooth with the pliers.

"When I first began loosening it, tears started coming out of my eyes," she said. "But then it got to the point of no return. With a bit of Dutch courage, I loosened the tooth one way, then the other, and leaned forward. My knees hit the floor, the pliers hit the floor and the tooth hit the cupboard."

- NZPA

They'll be lucky! There was a whole load of stuff in the news a while back about how a lot of NZ dentists have passed retirement age, but have to continue working as there's no one to replace them! Don't know what the situation is now though.