Not to mention the other problems it can cause.

Ten years ago when I was even more broke than now and didn't have any affordable options, I would put off going to the dentist if at all possible.

This lead to two tooth abscesses that spawned a third one in my throat. I was in the hospital for two weeks, one of which I spent in the ICU on a respirator since the growing abscess was pushing on my trachea.

If not for the near-universal single payer healthcare here in Denmark, I would probably either gone to the hospital too late and died or been in crushing debt for that hospital visit for the rest of my life even if I lived to be 100 years old.

Then again, if not for someone's idiotic idea of not including dentistry when they set up the single payer system way back in the 60s or 70s, I would have been able to afford taking much better care of my teeth and never would have been in that situation to begin with.