Is cosmetic dentistry health care?

[NDBeast]

Hi all,
I'm doing an analysis paper on cosmetic dentistry. I found 2 publications, each taking an opposing view on if cosmetic dentistry should be considered real healthcare or not. Opinions?

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[jmill0]

Of course it is. We take a condition (or a perceived condition) and utilize our training to correct or improve it.

Would anyone not classify cosmetic surgery as health care? I'm sure the majority of lipo, implants and facelifts are cosmetic. Anybody argue that it isn't health care?

We can do veneers, whitening and orthodontics. Most of these are done for cosmetic reasons for a perceived problem by the patient.

Was the opposing view written by an insurance representative as they want to not pay for anything anyway?

 

[NDBeast]

No, both were written by real dentists.

How is cosmetic detistry healthcare? You're not saving the person from a disease. How does it help them, healthwise?

 

[Supernumerary]

I know this is a bit of a stretch, but appearance has quite an effect on an individual's mental health.

Though I guess if you subscribe to that line of reasoning, it's only a little bit more of a stretch to think of cosmetologists and hair stylists as healthcare workers.

 

[jmill0]

One could argue that if you are helping a person with a condition perceived to be a problem by that patient, that could be a form of mental health care. We're fooling ourselves if we truly believe all we do is fix teeth. I know that I'm treating the patient attached to those teeth. Getting cosmetic work isn't for functionality, but rather the mental and emotional gains one can achieve.

Would someone say a psychologist isn't a health care provider because they help patients with mental problems they are having?

If a patient fractures #8 & #9. No pulpal exposure. ---> Function is still ok. No DISEASE present. Isn't restoring these purely cosmetic? Are we not a health care provider in this situation? We're treating the mental and emotional problem of the patient by correcting what they perceive to be a problem.

Thoughts from anyone else?

 

[aphistis]

Originally posted by jmill0
If a patient fractures #8 & #9. No pulpal exposure. ---> Function is still ok. No DISEASE present. Isn't restoring these purely cosmetic? Are we not a health care provider in this situation? We're treating the mental and emotional problem of the patient by correcting what they perceive to be a problem.

Thoughts from anyone else?

A big portion of this controversy survives on the popular misconception jmill0 identified. You can't exclusively categorize health care procedures as "cosmetic" or "therapeutic," because they're frequently both. The list of dental procedures falling into both categories incorporates much of what defines us as dentists: the entire fields of operative, prosthodontics, and orthodontics, for starters. Like most debates worth having, cosmetic health care isn't as simple as the reductionists on both sides would like to argue.