7000 Cups of Coffee?!

Some people in my office said this was submitted by the same medical officer.. hmm? probably?

The Star,Saturday February 23, 2008

Implants cost too much

I REFER to the letter Cheaper to do dental implants here in The Star, Feb 18. Implants in Malaysia costs between RM5,000 and RM9,000. Let us say it is RM7,000 on the average, which is the equivalent to 7,000 cups of coffee or three months' pay of a government medical officer’s salary here.

In Britain, it is £2,500 which is about 1,500 cups of coffee there or less than a month's salary of a government medical officer.

In the United States, it is US$2,500, which is about 1000 cups of coffee there or much less than a month's salary of a government medical officer. In Singapore, it is S$6,000, which is about 2000 cups of coffee there or less than a month's salary of government medical officer.

A baby delivery by Caeserean section here - which includes general anaesthesia and few days stay in a private hospital - would cost less than a tooth implant in Malaysia.

So dental implants here are among the most expensive in the world.

Suggesting other alternatives like dentures and bridges is like telling a patient with a bone fracture not to have nailing and plating and just to have plaster casts, as it will heal anyway.

Just as there is government control over food items and other products, there must be a price control over dental procedures. Dental health must be available and affordable to the rakyat of Malaysia.

As can be seen from above, a reasonable charge for an implant would be around 1,500 cups of coffee or RM1,500 by comparing the different prices of several countries. A root canal should not cost more than RM300 and crowns not more than RM300.

Technicians here should be taught to perform implants as there are other more difficult procedures that are also done by technicians. For example, there are midwives doing a good job with examinations, investigations and the delivery of babies.

Ultrasound and echo (for heart patients) are done by technicians, medical assistants are doing examinations, investigatings and treating patients while dental nurses are doing fillings and extractions. In addition, anaesthetic assistants are giving general anaethesia in rural areas.

Medical doctors should be taught to do implants as they have basically learnt all that the dentists have learned such as oral anatomy, physiology, pathology, bone regeneration, bone harvesting etc.

In my rural posting I was taught to extract teeth and do fillings. Implants have now become a common part of dental procedures, just as root canal treatment.

If there is a shortage of oral implantologists then we should recruit medical doctors. I am sure doctors here will fulfil their Hippocratic Oath to serve the public.

Dentists are also bound by Hippocratic oath to serve the public.

ANOTHER DOCTOR,

Kuala Lumpur.


And it took us years of formal training before we are trusted to use the high-speed handpiece...
With it come the responsibility and all.. what if the pulp was exposed during his treatment? Was he ready for an emergency root removal surgery if the tooth was fractured into half? Or worse, what if he broke the tubercle and the patients bleed and bleed and bleed...? Scary...
Isn't what this doctor did, illegal? Can anyone tell me?
First, he wanted to do implant, and now this? hmm might as well enroll into a dental school...and become a real dentist. I believe they will make good dentists because, well.. they know a lot about antibiotics...
(mm.. am i being sarcastic?)

naa