bitofarambler

Removed by mod

You’re Thai? Cheers.

Congrats on the influx of US patients and good on you, they need the help.

If a random dentist and I compete performing root canals, I’m banking on the dentist. Not my interest.

Travel experience, information and providing reliable sources about life and medical care abroad? You are the layperson here.

You may be a relative expert in a narrow field, but getting upset doesn’t change any of the facts about world-class Thai dentistry, better medical care abroad or plummeting healthcare quality in the US.

you don’t know what you don’t know

Exactly.

… some of the many very common misconceptions…

I dispel travel misconceptions spread by anyone, even US dentists.

Not all work can be evaluated…

All work can be evaluated, some evaluations will draw indeterminate conclusions regardless of which country the evaluation is performed in. That is the nature of diagnosis.

Patient satisfaction and surveys are complete worthless bullshit

Patient surveys are very good supplemental indicators of the professionalism and quality of an institution and their provided medical care.

…your subjective experience and tried to use that to say the work is objectively good.

These are facts, not your feelings.

Transparent fee charts, equipment audits, contracts, insurance, warranties, international accreditation, consults, the increase in medical care abroad itself are relevant medical quality data.

Ask any orthopedic surgeon…

I’ve consulted with dozens of dentists and doctors about many aspects of medical care in at least a dozen countries.

…what they think of foreign procedure mills…

Ask anyone what they think of manipulative healthcare practices in any country. They don’t like them.

Ask the banned women dying in parking lots in the US, the bounty hunted pregnant women from Texas, US kidney stone sufferers permanently damaged because they were waiting in the ER for 14 hours, US patients denied dentistry or other care because they cannot afford fabricated fee schedules dictated by healthcare monopolies that do not guarantee quality care.

The US healthcare system leans profit-driven, not patient-focused, and that is reflected in the low quality and accessibility of care in the US, regardless of the talent of some US medical professionals. They work in a broken, predatory system.

…one chance…fixing it is either impossible…

Yes, and this has no bearing on the quality of medical care internationally.

Yes, health care is risky everywhere ,and many countries provide the same or better healthcare than the US at a more affordable cost with easier access to care. Yes, health care can be difficult for doctors to perform everywhere, and many countries provide the same or better healthcare than the US at a more affordable cost with easier access to care.

You can fuck up a tooth in an instant. Destroyed. Cannot be fixed.

All the more reason to receive the highest quality medical care as soon as possible at a reasonable cost. The US cannot provide that type of care to most of its citizens. Wait times are harmful or fatal to many US patients. Other countries can provide the highest quality medical care without delay at a reasonable cast to both their citizens and disadvantaged foreigners like US patients. Other healthcare infrastructures function better and can help more people at a lower cost.

how can you know the work done was good? You can’t.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to check the efficacy of medical procedures.

You can get x-rays, MRIs and all sorts of after-care examinations performed by your choice of trusted doctors and dentists if you are unsure of the quality of care you received.

A strong indicator will be how you feel after the procedure, which is why I include patient surveys in all of my posts about medical care abroad. Very importantly, other than the higher-rated equipment, expertise and report accuracy, patient satisfaction regarding care quality in Thailand is rated higher than in the US, for example.

With a poorly molded crown in the US, because the fabs are often located outside of the clinic or hospital, it can be 2-3 weeks before I get to try the next crown, which someone unfamiliar with my case is creating from specs without a personal consult from my dentist.

I see where you are coming from, it is the most frequent response to high-quality medical care abroad:

Dental tourism scares the hell out of me

This anxiety about the unknown often colors how people react to any situation outside their experience, but there are plenty of ways to ease yourself into receiving higher quality medical care abroad: translators, medical insurance, expat meetups so you can get used to an idea you are unfamiliar with.

This next part though, is simply wrong.

With dental tourism you get no follow-up care

Incorrect. This applies to most medical care destinations outside of the US; follow-up care is essential abroad and is usually presented in a contract and verbally confirmed with you before any diagnosis even takes place, let alone a procedure. You have access to all the documents and files your hospital abroad does and are also free to share those or ask your hospital to share the documents with other doctors and clinics of your choice.

With Thai dental care as an example, they explained the bullet points of my diagnosis, proposed treatment and after care, and then I had a twenty-minute discussion with my doctor before choosing a gold crown. We did a scan, 3 days later I went in for a fitting. My crown wasn’t seated perfectly, so my dentist quickly made the call to send it back downstairs(in Thailand, their fabs are located in the same building as your dentist) and told me to come back tomorrow for a now highest-priority new printed gold crown at no extra charge. I returned 18 hours later, they scanned my medical ID card, cemented my new gold crown which fit like a glove, and I was out in 15 minutes free of charge. after again receiving the highest quality of care from a doctor and hospital i trusted and appreciated.

You can purchase as many extra bells and whistles as you want with your chosen care package, but the basic warranties have been more than enough for me; my crowns have lasted more than a decade(knock on wood with me).

That works, although the Thai medical field is so heavily regulated that scams are uncommon. They want our medical dollars to keep rolling in.

If you have any concerns, go to an international clinic. Heavily regulated, highest-tier equipment/care, everyone is at least bilingual, transparent total fee charts available before anything takes place, they are totally worth the slight fee bump.

I hear India is good for cardiac surgeries, although at this point I plan to continue going to Thailand for everything until something changes.

that’s great!

thank you, I’m always interested in other firsthand accounts to pass on to all the Americans and travelers who ask me about healthcare in different countries.

Dental work is my most common healthcare experience abroad. I cannot recommend Thailand enough, especially for dental work, nothing but 5 out of 5 dentistry for me so far.

3rd-party analyses and patient surveys rating Thailand higher than the US in health care these days are included in the link above. and here, why not?

the US lost so many battles against corporate monopolies that now 4 companies own the majority of the US healthcare system.

i suggest medical care abroad if you’d like similar or better healthcare at a much lower price. travel offers much more than a vacation.

Not sure how much longer people are going to think I’m crazy for living abroad.

Federal agents invading states and extrajudicially executing citizens is a common historical prelude and introduction to civil war.

The moment a US state government fights back on behalf of its own citizens, the US will have entered civil war.

Consistent messaging is key!

The US is in actual national peril, not all “Western” countries.

But yes, I’m excited after living abroad for 15 years for other countries to stop paying so much deference to harmful US policies and consider sensible global alternatives like bidets, gun control and accessible, affordable civil services.

Especially bidets.

Tonal, using different tones to differentiate meaning:

The car. The car?

You intonate the a differently to denote different meaning.

Logographic - picture-based writing.

What if a Chinese language became the global standard rather than English, for example.

Your title is warranted and exactly appropriate for this level of information.

That piece of information is lodged firmly inside my psyche now.

really good article with a couple surprises in there.

"some people speculated that, because of the political pressure against it, its release must have been an act of resistance by someone within the IRS. But the open sourcing of the program was always part of the plan, and was required by a law called the SHARE IT Act. It happened “fully above board, which is honestly more of a feat!,” Given told 404 Media. “This has been in the works since last year.”

Vinton told 404 Media in a phone call that the open sourcing of Direct File “is just good government.”

“All code paid for by taxpayer dollars should be open source, available for comment, for feedback, for people to build on and for people in other agencies to replicate. It saves everyone money and it is our [taxpayers’] IP,” she said. “This is just good government and should absolutely be the standard that government technologists are held to.”"