That is crazy! But then $170 per tooth is pretty nuts too! Since this is a health issue, I won't go political.... I could. I won't. That is just crazy.

I wonder how long he had the pain before he called the doctor?

Don't know how it is in England, but here most guys will just bear the pain for as long as possible, loading up with anbesol or similar pain-relievers until you can't wait any longer.

Yes there are cases such as this. There are also 767,308 cases this year where everything was fine.

Even on NHS, the service isn't free, just reduced cost. NHS covers about 56% of dental care.

Surveys done recently show more and more people are going without dental care and some (6% of those surveyed) resort to taking out their own teeth.

Here

Edit:
I added the story linked above to the description. This way instead of a 2 paragraph story about 1 person, we see that it is a growing problem

This might be the technique he used. Original link here but dead, hence the cache.

And yeah, 2many - it has to get painful before most guys here would go for help too.

does anyone else see a really easy setup for a joke about British teeth?