i still need to see that dbf...my friend HIGHLY suggests it.
sks...actual measures to fix the problems are varied. cost problems are alleviated in part by medicare/medicaid. depending on who the next president is, we may implement a universal healthcare system, which may raise taxes, but would probably lower the costs of healthcare for those in the lowest income bracket (people in this bracket usually aren't affected by tax increases, and in many cases are often living without health insurance). access issues can relate to physical access, as in transportation, or cultural access, as in cultural competency of doctors, dentists and other healthcare professionals when dealing with americans from other countries. quality problems are generally controlled by quality measures...there has been a recent push for transparency in the healthcare system where measures can be viewed online (look up hospitalcompare and other sites for examples), which allows people to choose where they would like receive healthcare based on which hospitals give the highest quality care.
unfortunately, for us, the healthcare system in general does not directly correlate to dentistry. dentists, unlike hospitals, do not have to accept a certain number of medicare/medicaid patients, and are not as controlled by the government as other aspects of healthcare. for current issues in dentistry i would suggest reading some dental literature, or speaking with your general dentist.
although most problems don't correlate, there is definetely a link with costs...as the costs for dental procedures are high, and dental insurance is usually less widely available than health insurance. do a search on google or yahoo for 'current issues in dentistry' or something similar and i'm sure you will be able to find some things. also try to find an online dental magazine, or other type of literature, so you can read about some of the things going on in dentistry. i personally don't think you will have to be able to compare the dental system in the united states to other countries though.
hope that helped a bit...
-waystinthyme
