Is this the first instance in history of "old professors" causing progress via any method other than dying? Who is meant by "competing professionals"? Is this a procedure that dentists do that e.g. hairdressers also do? (This would be more plausible if you named the procedure.) Hopefully you're not just lamenting the steady improvement in materials: it's not a problem that no one uses amalgam anymore. Also, there are several different types of dental schools operating in USA. The brand-new private schools can't really be held to the same standards as state schools and older private schools. They're just trying to pay off the bonds.

This sounds possibly reasonable... If the price is low, the supply is high enough already, adding more supply might not be helping anyone, dentists nor patients.

??? You do realise patients are looking to get cured first and foremost…

The cheaper the better from that POV

That depends, maybe the procedure is cheap because it's faster. Dentists would then be able to do it more often and still profit as individuals (higher volume). The ability of customers to save money, though, would result in less overall revenue for dentists as a whole. Hence the organised opposition.

Appreciate your point but it's quite possibly the most 'USA' comment I've ever read.

Lets stop assuming these things happen elsewhere to the same greed fueled extent.

Why? Dental work is not covered by the government here in Canada, and even private insurance caps usually have a very low amount that they cover (1-2k$ per year no matter how bad your teeth are, and a single root can treatment can put you over that limit very quickly). So it really has nothing to do with it being American and I think dentistry in general can have a problem when it comes to treatment necessity, over diagnosis and fixing things that may not need fixing.

Now that I think about it, I've actually rarely heard anything about single payer dental coverage, which is weird considering just how important dental health to life quality. Is dental work free in countries like Germany, the NL, Sweden etc?

In Norway, most health services are funded by the authorities.

The notable exception being dentistry. The dentists (mostly) fight tooth and nail not to be publicly funded; the reason, of course being that the state holds way more leverage than individuals - and rates are sure to plummet once the state foots the bill.

If I go to see my doctor, am admitted to hospital or whatever, I pay a small deductible - $20-40 - each time; once my expenses in a calendar year exceeds approx. $300, I get a waiver valid for the rest of the year, capping my direct medical expenses (excluding dentistry) at $300 a year.

For comparison, last time I had a tooth filled a few years ago, my dentist charged me $300 for a 20 minute job.

Dentists outside the USA do this, too. I once had a dentist outside the US even admit this to me. She seemed embarassed by her former classmates from dental school who were operating this way.