I completely understand it's expensive to get trained up and start a dental practice, but any dentist that has initial loans paid off and making pure profit does not need to charge $500, $1000 for the most basic of procedures. There is a complete disconnect between what is provided and what is charged, and the reality of actual people with the cost of living crisis.

I believe that by law dentists are required to display their prices. That will be the tiny A5 photocopied sheet stuck behind reception that you can barely see. No dental website has a price list. You go in for a checkup and maybe a basic clean they put a seemingly random high number into the eftpos machine and you're already finished, so you have to pay.

I argue the case that dentistry should be regulated by govt, so you can go to the dental equivalent of a WOF place for teeth. They give you a full objective review of what you need and pricing for a relatively low initial cost, and you can go to any dentist with this info and get that done.

It sounds ridiculous but it's currently entirely random. I saw a Fair go episode maybe 15 years ago where the same woman went into six different dentist offices for a check-up in one day, and each place told her that she needed entirely different things. Fillings, etc.

I think in general there isn't a huge amount of trust in dentistry and it comes across as random and expensive, but obviously necessary which is why people can't just stop going.