system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Dental care should not be considered separate from regular health care

Basically the title. Dental care requires checkups similar to regular doctor appointments, and poor oral hygiene is just like any other physical hygiene that can lead to health problems, specifically heart disease. 

Obviously, dentists are specialists, but many specialists exist within standard health care, so I don't understand why teeth specifically, this one random part of your body, shouldn't be considered health care like the rest of your body. 

Disclosure: Canadian, so talking from a universal health care point of view. We don't pay for checkups at the doctor, but we do at the dentist. If you're American and are going to point out that you have to pay for both/be insured for both, my condolences. 

So, change my view.
gpt
So... here's the thing.

Dental care is unlike medical in that almost all of it is routine and expected, and *very* little of the cost of insuring for it is due to exceptional and unexpected events as a percentage of the cost. 

So... all that dental insurance does, in practice, is pay for your routine stuff *after adding overhead to the cost*. 

Practically the only reason to buy dental insurance is if someone else is paying for it, otherwise you're way better off (as in, will pay less) self-insuring. 

And yes, that's from an American perspective of generally getting dental insurance from our work. 

But it's true in Canada too... because the government would add overhead to the cost of paying for your dental care *too*... the fact that it's paid by taxes doesn't mean you're not paying for it.

So sure... have your universal healthcare cover the catastrophic part of your dental insurance... but pay for your routine visits yourself and save the government overhead.